Quietly into the Night
by Omega Psi
Summary: It has been hundreds of years since the last time a war on this scale has been fought. The people have become complacent, and even the hunters are hopeless to stand against him. Only the Knights possess the strength to oppose this tide, but will it be enough? The Alpha has come anew, and he has his sights set on Remnant. He has waited and learned. Can he be beaten a second time?
1. Prolouge

**Prologue**

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 **Author's Note** : As stated above, this is the prologue of the story which revolves primarily around giving the setting and a bit of background information for this slightly altered world. This story takes place within the exact same universe as RWBY (i.e. Beacon, Grimm, etc.) but the plot is drastically different. The plot diverges away from canon immediately following the creation of the teams RWBY and JNPR after the fight in the Emerald Forest. Though some aspects of the canon may reside within my own, I assure you it is only to advance plot. There will be romance deeply entwined with the story focusing on WhiteRose and Bumblebee, with hints of Arkos and Noren. This story is rated M primarily for violence, profanity, and other explicit references. Please leave a review so that I may learn to improve upon my writing.

Thank you for reading, and, without further ado: please enjoy the show.

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It was a short lived victory. While in the Emerald Forest, a rough battle against a Nevermore and a Death Stalker had left all of teams RWBY and JNPR with an exaggerated sense of pride. Not undeserved, however, as their brilliantly executed strategies had impressed Headmaster Ozpin enough to take a specific notice of them. They lived out the high of this praise as long as they could for the following day, until the reality hit them…that was only half of the Beacon 'initiation.' Of course, they had known the whole time, about it, but recent events had caused them all to forget about their team administrator. While Ruby and Jaune were the leaders of teams RWBY and JNPR, respectively, it was illegal to send unlicensed Hunters out on hunts without the supervision of a team admin. Though admins (who were predominately professors) went with their teams out on hunts, they rarely intervened unless absolutely necessary, as the point of these hunts was to train the Huntsmen-and-Huntresses-in-training.

The method for deciding which admin was assigned to what team rested solely on the admins themselves. Of course, they would not simply pick at random, they had to have some way to determine which team would best suit them, and how they could help that particular team. There was a fair amount of studying on the admin's part for choosing, but nothing was quite as important as 'The Hunt.' This gruesome name was given to an arena-styled-event, which was reserved every time a new batch of students arrived, in which the students would be given a simulated fight against A.I.s in a variety of combat situations. In fact, a staggeringly large portion of money was spent on keeping the arena state-of-the-art to make sure the computer could truly emulate a real combat scenario.

Teams RWBY and JNPR had finally calmed down enough to give thought to what was ahead of them. It was Monday, and the 'Hunt' was on Friday; they had until then to prepare themselves for what is to come…knowing full well that if they were not picked by an admin, they will be immediately dismissed from the academy and will have to reapply for entrance to the school. And Beacon Academy is notknown for reaccepting failures. Call it harsh, but there is a reason Beacon is the best. This is such a serious obstacle, that many students will spend this next week doing favors for many of the professors, begging on their knees, and even attempting to bribe them. You can hear the voices all over the school, asking what help their teachers-to-be might be in need of; and the professors would, in good faith, take advantage of this free labor. Even Headmaster Ozpin was not above asking for a refill of his favorite coffee, though Ozpin didn't take teams under his wing lightly.

Technically, you could have any licensed Huntsman or Huntress as an admin, but the professors took on the majority of the teams since they were only 'part-time' Hunters. If you were really good, you could get a full-fledged Hunter as your admin and you could gain a vast array of real-world experience. Teams RWBY and JNPR knew that begging and bribery were not going to do anything to help them; besides…they wanted an admin who would actually teach them, not just do the bare minimum for a simple paycheck. The two teams had their eyes set higher, perhaps Ozpin and Goodwitch could be their admins…or even a Knight. Unfortunately, it was only wishful thinking because only the best of the best could receive a Knight as their admin.

The Knight-Hunters are soldiers left over from a forgotten era. When humanity first learned to manipulate their environment with the powers of dust, they began to fight back against the evil Grimm that corrupted their world. Though technically anyone would use dust (with the aid of machinery), only those born with an aura could truly use it to its fullest extent. They pushed the Grimm outward, building cities as they progressed, which would eventually form the four kingdoms of Remnant. However, during The Second Era, the Grimm launched massive, seemingly organized attacks against the kingdoms, resulting in the largest death toll from a Grimm attack in recorded history, and not by a small amount…It became known as The Grimm War. During this era of constant warfare, the legendary group known as the Knight-Hunters were formed to take on the Grimm. A small army of only 150 masked soldiers, not loyal to any one kingdom, dawned their armor and raised their swords to take charge of the then-Hunters of Remnant and lead them to battle. One by one, victory after victory, the Knights earned their place in history, leading the Hunters all the way through to the glorious end.

Much of what is known about that time period is lost to the ages, however, we do know that 150 Knights went out to fight Grimm, and, after nearly 40 years of fighting, 47 came back. Today, however, about 400 Knights are scattered throughout Remnant…waiting, training, and helping where needed. The numbers of the Knights do not grow rapidly due to the fact that one does not become a knight, but rather one is born into the order…and because of this, Hunters have tried for centuries to obtain the secret to the Knights deadly fighting style and weaponry, but alas, they are never successful. It is hypothesized that they must have a very strict familial hierarchy set up to decide who will be next in line to obtain knighthood. Though people might gossip about them (in both good and bad terms), no one in any of the four kingdoms are above stating, very clearly, that they are happy leaving that stressful lifestyle to them.

There is much controversy over the Knights role in society, getting so heated at one point that the Hunters of Vacuo were once ordered (nearly 300 years ago) to arrest the Knights, living within their kingdom, and forcibly obtain their secrets for 'the greater good.' Of all 284 Knights at this time, 67 were in Vacuo including the then Knight-General, leader of the Knight-Hunters; they marched directly into the Capital, towards the King's manor, and were immediately faced with over 20,000 soldiers. The Knight-General, being the compassionate person that all Knight-Generals before and since then have been, begged the King to reconsider and pleaded with the soldiers. When the King laughingly mocked him, and the Knight-General knew there would not be a fair hearing, he mumble a few words (speculated to be an apology for his coming actions, or even a prayer for forgiveness) drew his sword and began walking toward the soldiers in the direction of the King. Even his Knights were awestruck as the King's distorted, laughing head was raised in the Knight-General's left hand. Not out of disgust, but out of amazement of the Knight-General's battle prowess to so easily kill one of the most powerful people in the world. The soldiers of Vacuo were dumb-founded as well; the Knight-General was just in front of them and suddenly their King was dead. They didn't have much time to ponder what had just taken place as their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of armor falling to the ground; a straight line of bodies littered the ground from where the Knight-General had drawn his sword up to where the King's lifeless corpse sat. Easily 2,000 soldiers had fallen in an instant, and the remaining dropped their weapons immediately. Most of Vacuo's citizens weren't too angry either, since the king was quite the tyrant; and the Knight-General managed to save face when it was discovered that the 2,000 soldiers that were felled by his sword were discovered to simply be unconscious. It is the only recorded moment in history of the Knight's 'interfering' in the political world.

Beacon was, in fact, not built for the purpose of training Hunters; the archaic school was originally the Vale headquarters for the Knight-Hunters (their headquarters in Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas would also be converted) and was given to the Hunters as part of the Knight-Remnant Act. This act gave the Hunters of Remnant access to all of the Knight's dust mining secrets, weapons, and fighting styles, while giving the Knights full autonomy, the right to take control of the four Kingdom's militaries if another Grimm War began, and access to any and all information on topics relating to the Grimm, regardless of how sensitive the information may be. Of course the Knights came out on top in this deal as the Hunters were mistaken in believing that the dust, weapons, and fighting style is what gave the Knights their edge…they were gravely mistaken. Thus, the modern day Knight could occasionally be seen around Remnant training, fighting, or just generally assisting people wherever they could, Grimm-related or not. The Knights, above all else, are the greatest philanthropists in the world.

The current leader of the Knight-Hunters, Knight-General Lionel Donovan, resided within the walls of Beacon, essentially living there, as the Knight-Generals of old did, albeit on his own portion of land at the school. He could be seen reading on his porch, training in the gym, or even going on hunts. Like the rest of the Knights, his face could not be seen; a mask always being worn made many gossip, though he was sure to be used to it now…a Knight covering their face was tradition, for some strange reason. Many legendary stories float around about the Knight-General also, some being about his killing a herd of seven Goliaths in just a few minutes and others being about him pulling the strings of every political decision made in Remnant. 'Gossip, all of it,' is all the Knight-General would say when confronted about it. He is a man of few words, but powerful actions; he always had been, but he seemed colder for the past three years, however. Regardless of how his demeanor was perceived by others, he would continue to help the innocent.

Ruby shook the thoughts from her head as she prepared herself to change into her pajamas. She had always been infatuated with the Hunters, but the mysterious Knights were even more amazing to her since they reminded her of the stories she was told as a child. As team RWBY laid themselves down to sleep on Monday night, their hearts beat in resonance as they all feared the coming weekend…


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

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 **Author's Note** : This will be the first official chapter in the story. This is my first FanFiction that I've ever written, so please leave me any feedback you can, not matter how brutal, as anything and everything helps out…just try to keep it constructive.

 _Anything in italics will be are the thoughts of a character._

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Ruby's scroll began buzzing the familiar tone of her favorite Achieve Men song, 'Hunting all night.' She quickly shut off the scroll and made sure she did not wake her teammates. After checking her scroll, she saw that the time is 4:30am… she mentally cursed herself as she sat up desperately wanting to go back down to sleep. 'I have to wake up and get everything in order' was the official reason she gave when questioned by her teammates as to why she would wake up so early. The real reason, however, was that she had moved so far away from Signal Training Academy and was three hours behind them. Between classes, training, and homework the only reasonable time she had to talk to her old friends was early before they went to school and late (for them) before Ruby went to sleep. She shuffled to the decent sized bathroom, which was included in every room for the Hunters-in-training. One of the perks of going to the number one hunting school was the fact they the school had no problem splurging money on their students in the name of luxury.

Each room has four beds, desks, and armoires, as well as a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and bathtub which doubles as a shower. There was also a mini kitchen, in each room which held a mini fridge, two stove burners seemingly built into the marble counter-top and a sink for washing dishes. All things considered, this was a pleasant place to live. She entered the bathroom, shed her tank top and pajama-bottoms, and stared into the mirror. With a surprising burst of energy, she slapped both of her cheeks and stretched her body until joints began popping. Her hand lightly slapped the wall next to the light switch and she began searching for the sound-canceller; she didn't want to wake her team as she showered, and luckily for her, beacon had installed (into every dorm room) a button that when pressed would activate the dust imbedded in the wall's paint and block the noise from going through the surface. She had mentally prepared herself for the day, and so she began with her morning ritual of brushing her teeth, showering, simply dressing in a few comfortable clothes until Team RWBY had to leave, and stepped outside the bathroom ready to face the world.

The time was now 5:19am and she had about 40 minutes to talk with her friends before she had to begin waking her teammates up. So, she quickly grabbed her scroll from her bed, shrunk back into the bathroom, dialed her friends' numbers and spent all the time until 6:00am speaking of her wild adventures in the Emerald Forest. Needless to say, her friends' thought she was the coolest person in the world, an honor which she would happily carry with her. 6:00am came all to quickly as she was forced to hang up her scroll and ready herself for the barrage of pillows and curses which was sure to come her way. She grabbed her whistle and blew air into it as hard as she possible could.

"What the hell?!" Yang jumped down from her bunk and was in her signature fighting stance within a few seconds, Ember Celica at the ready. It took her a moment to look around at her surroundings and realize what was going on.

Blake had just sat up and was glaring at the younger sister while she flatly asked, "This is going to be a recurring event, isn't it?"

"Ye-p!" Ruby said, popping the 'P' sound.

Weiss was just glaring at her and looked as though she was putting in physical effort not to say as many derogatory words that came to her mind. In the end she settled for her signature insult, "You insufferable dolt, are you incapable of acting like a civilized person?"

Yang chimed in, "Yeah, was that really necessary, sis?"

Ruby's expression had suddenly turned very serious, yet her movements remained quite childish…almost as though she was mocking them. While pacing back and forth she said, "Yes. I hope you all haven't forgotten that we have exactly three days to prepare for the Hunt. We've got no time to lose!" The three older girls simply looked at each other and sighed in unison.

Yang jumped up and landed on her top bunk while saying, "I'ma go back to sleep for a few, wake me up when Blakey and the Ice Queen are done in the bathroom."

Weiss just scoffed and muttered, what Ruby assumed to be, insults under her breath while walking to the bathroom. Weiss walked past Ruby while rubbing her eyes and accidently bumped into her and sputtered out, "Watch out, you dunce!"

"Yeah…sorry…" the last part of her apology trailed to a whisper as she noticed the shoulder strap of Weiss's nightgown had been knocked off, and she was glaring at the shorter girl's shoulder. When Weiss slammed the bathroom door, she was removed from her trance and glanced around very quickly only to see Blake with her face to the wall and her sister already snoring softly.

After an interesting morning of prying Yang from her bunk and getting everyone fed, they found themselves ready for the day. It was almost 8:00am, and they all decided to head to the gym to start their day. They left their dorm at the same time as Team JNPR was getting ready to head out also.

"Oh, hey guys! Sleep well?" Jaune asked happily. He almost immediately regretted asking as he saw annoyed looks on Yang and Weiss's faces, indifference in Blake's, and an ear-to-ear grin on Ruby. "…That whistle was you, wasn't it?" Jaune asked meekly looking at Ruby.

"But, of course! It is a leader's duty to make sure their team is up and prepared for the day. I have no intention of letting my team start to slack off just because they're –" Ruby's sarcastic comment was cut short by a hand burying its knuckles into her head.

"Quiet you!" Yang said playfully aggressive. She looked at Jaune and stated, "Don't you worry about hearing that whistle again, we'll take care of it." Yang's boisterous attitude greatly overshadowed Ruby's cries of pain.

"That's what I was afraid of…" Jaune said quietly. "I would suggest tapping out, Ruby. There's no way you can endure that for long." he stated while walking away.

"Good luck!" Pyrrha said gleefully while walking away. Nora was already laughing manically and Ren simply let a grin slip onto his face.

Yang finally relented on her assault and released her younger sister. She stood back and admired her handy work as Ruby's hair was all frizzy. Ruby held the top of her head, her bottom lip puffed out, and tears threatened to emerge from her eyes.

" _Oh, you poor girl…"_ Weiss thought, as her heart began to race. _"Wait, what? Where in the world did that come from?"_ She shuddered and walked past Ruby, stopped and tilted he head towards the young leader slightly, "I thought you were the team leader? If you start crying, there's no way I'd ever follow your orders," she said while sending an unconcerned glare at Ruby.

Ruby immediately sucked it up and agreed with Weiss. "Yeah, like I would ever cry…" she said. Blake let out a sigh as Yang started to laugh. Weiss, however, had turned her head back to the front and found her heart relaxing. She had no idea why seeing the young Huntress-in-training in pain made her so uncomfortable. They began to head toward the gym, but when they got there, they were amazed at how many people were already using it. The place was packed. Of course, many of the students in there would be there for much longer.

120 professors was all there was in the entirety of Beacon academy, including the headmaster. That means, since there are teams of four, a total of 480 students were guaranteed a position in the school. However, over 2,000 students were currently visiting from all across Remnant, to gain access to the amazing school. Hotels and inns were predominately occupied with many would-be-students. Luckily for Team RWBY, since beacon was an academy in Vale, Native Vale citizens got first picks for the dorms until the student fodder cleared after the Hunt. Weiss, of course, got the dorm room position by paying an unknown amount of money to an undisclosed person.

After seeing the amount of people loitering in and around the gym, Team RWBY simply decided to just take themselves elsewhere. They didn't quite want to travel all the way to Vale to go to another gym, so instead they decided to go to the arena, where the Hunt would take place. Upon arriving, however, they saw that it was off limits with Headmaster Ozpin speaking to, what looked like, an IT tech.

"Hey, professor?" Yang said as the team approached the two. Ozpin gave a glance that said to give him a moment.

"…yes, I want to make sure everything is in working order. If you don't think you can have the simulator's CPU upgraded in time, then we'll worry about it after the Hunt." Ozpin said right before taking a sip of his coffee.

"No sir, I have no doubt that the upgrades will be finished in time…I was just wandering if you were sure, this is going to make the potential difficulty much greater for the higher levels of the simulator. I don't want any of the students getting hurt." the tech said while scratching the back of his neck.

Ozpin chuckled, "It's a little late for that. I have students injured on a seemingly day-to-day basis. Though I appreciate your concern for these young Hunters-in-training, there is a reason we have a full medical bay under the bleachers of the arena. We want these students to have a 'safe' environment for pushing themselves beyond their limits." Ozpin seemed to look completely calm.

"Alright sir, I'll have it done right away." the IT tech said right before walking away.

"Now, what can I help you ladies with?" Ozpin said in his uniquely kind tone.

"We were wondering if we could use the arena for training, but it sounds like that's a no-go." Yang said while brushing hair out of her eyes. "Why mess with things so soon before the Hunt?"

"An upgraded CPU would help the simulation compartmentalize and respond to different stimuli at an exponentially increased rate." Blake said with a hint of intrigue.

"Uh huh…ummm…what?" Yang and Ruby said in unison.

"The Hunt is going to be harder for us, your dolts." Weiss informed while staring down into the arena. It was an indoor arena, but still rather large. The fighting area was a large circle, about one hundred meters in diameter, with walls around the perimeter, about five meters tall. Atop the walls were where the bleachers began.

"More difficult only at the higher levels. Any difficulty setting above ten will be quite a bit more responsive than previous years. Make sure you prepare yourselves adequately, ladies." Ozpin said as he watched the construction from afar.

"What difficulty is the arena set to for the Hunt, Professor?" Ruby asked inquisitively. The other three girls turned their heads to look at Ozpin realizing that they hadn't given any thought to the Hunt's simulation as a whole.

"The difficulty is basely proportional to the score you were given during your initiation in the Emerald Forest. And since yours, and Team JNPR's, scores were perfect twelves, your teams must come to a consensus on the difficulty you desire…it can be no lower than twelve, however." Ozpin stated matter-of-factly.

"How many levels are there?" Yang asked

"Sixteen. Though levels higher than fourteen are generally the setting at which our professors train at. And a sixteen has only been beaten a handful of times, thrice if memory serves. And two of those victories were from knights." Ozpin said as though he were lecturing college students about the dangers of drinking alcohol. He knew what was coming.

"Oooohh, who was the other one?" Ruby asked with her eyes wide as though she was about to be given the meaning of life itself.

"That would be my 'team' and I. It was about fourteen years ago when myself, Glynda, James, and Qrow had decided to take on that beast of a level. But, of course, the computer has been upgraded, including now, three times since then. So I shudder to think about how horrific the battle would be now." Ozpin said slightly wearily. He looked at the girls and sipped his coffee, waiting for the inevitable.

"I had no idea our uncle is on a team with you. That's pretty damn cool." Yang said right before Blake elbowed her is the side.

"Watch you language." Blake said glaring at her.

"Anything for you, sweetheart." Yang said sarcastically. Blake rolled her eyes, turned to look at the arena, and let out a small chuckle.

"It is not an official team, we just often find ourselves providing one-another assistance." Ozpin stated.

"Oh, guys! Wouldn't it be cool if we beat the simulation at a sixteen? I think we can do it!" Ruby stated, earning her a smile from her partner.

"Indeed. Simulations, no matter how responsive, operate on a predetermined set of parameters." Weiss said confidently. "Surely we can beat it."

Yang was already on board with this course of action as she slammed her right fist into her left palm. "Fuck yeah, we'll kick its –" Yang was cut short by another elbow in her side.

"It sounds like I don't have much of a choice, though I suppose it may be fun." Blake said while retracting her arm from Yang's kidney.

Ozpin simply let out a sigh and opened his mouth to interject. But before he could get a word out, the girls were already running away. "Thanks professor, gotta go train!" Ruby said as she led her team away.

" _Well, I did say they needed to push themselves."_ Ozpin thought as he attempted to drink his coffee. Noticing it was empty, he began to walk back to his office.

The girls had stopped running once they had gotten to the courtyard and began looking around for places they could train with each other. They couldn't just fight in the open, an unsanctioned fight would have professor Goodwitch breathing down their necks. They thought about going back to the Emerald Forest, but it was off limits as there were scouts out there looking for more potential Nevermores after the one Team RWBY took down. A fight would be sure to attract all of the scouts within a three kilometer radius.

"Damn, if only we were more familiar with the campus." Yang said, instantly realizing her mistake. She quickly covered her side and closed her eyes readying herself for a pain that never came. She peaked through her eyes and saw Blake simply walking casually next to her, "You're not gonna hit me again?"

"I don't care if you swear on your own time, just be more professional around people you aren't close with…like our teachers." She said shooting her a glare.

"We're close? We've known each other for less than a week…you gotta buy me dinner first, babe." Yang said as she started laughing. Blake, however, just turned her head when she noticed her face getting warm.

" _Why in the world am I getting flustered over that ridiculous comment?"_ She thought to herself as she walked slightly faster past Yang.

"Where do you guys think would be a good place to fight? Most of these areas are pretty open." Ruby said, partly distracted by darting her head around looking for secluded, open areas.

"There's always downtown Vale. Probably a gym or club or something." Yang said crossing her arms behind her head.

"You don't fight in clubs, Yang." Blake said, wondering if they were talking about the same kind of club.

"No, YOU don't fight in clubs…I got a track record." Yang asserted with an abnormal amount of pride, even for her.

"Yaaaang, dad said to stop that. You're gonna get in trouble one day." Ruby worryingly mentioned.

Blake and Weiss just shook their heads, when a flurry of rose petals appeared in front of them. "Wha – Ruby Rose, where in the world did you run off to?" Weiss yelled.

"Over here, guys!" Ruby yelled back while waving her arms.

It would take some getting used to how fast Ruby was. She managed to cover about fifty meters in just a second. All three girls ran over to Ruby who was standing in front of a large gate. Right in the middle of the gate, was the legendary insignia of the Knight-Hunters. Ruby had climbed the wall and was looking over the top of it.

"Really, Rubes? What happened to 'We only got three days to prepare for the Hunt?' Is now really the time for an autograph?" Yang asked while mocking her younger sister.

"An autograph?" Blake asked, looking over to Yang.

"Ruby has always admired the Knights, ever since dad read her those knight-in-shining-armor stories when she was younger." Weiss was now looking at Yang as she continued, "She used to play around with a towel tied around her neck and a wooden sword in her hand, trying to save the damsel-in-distress." Yang said, laughing.

Ruby jumped down, red-faced, looked Yang straight into the eyes, and began to speak, "Oh yeah, and who played the damsel-in –" the red in Yang's eyes stopped Ruby in her tracks, but the damage had already been done, so she persisted on. "Y-yeah, Yang would put her hair in a ponytail and say 'Please, O please, brave knight, save me.' It was soooooo cute." She squeaked out, as the red in Yang's eyes moved south to her cheeks.

Weiss was laughing at them both as Blake's 'aww' slipped out during her chuckling. They were all interrupted by the sound of the gate opening suddenly. They each scattered to different hiding spots as a very elegant car began to exit. All of the girls noticed who was sitting in the back, as there was no mistaking his mask; it was the Knight-General.

His masked ended right on the bridge of his nose and slowly descended down the sides of his face as it went right under his earlobes and wrapped around his neck. His hair was about four inches on the top, black, combed backward, with the sides and back all cut short. He had brown eyes, defined cheek bones, and one very small hooped earring in each ear. It looked as though he was wearing a normal, plain, grey t-shirt with a black leather jacket on over top. He only wore his leather jacket when he was going to battle. Even without being able to see anything else through the window of the car, the girls knew he was wearing his dark grey cargo pants, held up by a black belt, brown combat boots, and a pair of black leather gloves. Everything he wore was all form-fitting while still allowing for a full range of motion.

All of the clothing had all been embedded with omni-dust, a rare type of dust with an almost unlimited amount of energy. It was too expensive and rare for the world to use it as an energy source, but the few who could get their hands on it, took full advantage. And, somehow, the Knights never seemed to have a problem getting their hands on more. His clothing has many different compartments to hold any practical equipment he might need. He kept two pistols on the back of his waist, on his belt, loaded with dust rounds. In the seat next to him, however, they saw it; Deus Mortem, the Knight-General's personal sword.

No one truly knows what his weapon is capable of, it has only been seen in use in its present form, which is a rather large, two-handed sword. The Knight-General, of course, can wield it one-handed without any problems arising. Deus Mortem has a very thin space running down the middle of the blade, so many have hypothesized that it is capable of splitting into two swords, little more is known, however. This hypothesis does give credence to the namesake of the weapon: though Deus Mortem technically means 'God of Death' in Latin, it could also be the two names 'God' and 'Death' given to each of his two sword halves. The hilt of the sword was made from leather, and one could see two triggers directly underneath where the blade began. So, it is safe to assume that when separated, it can fire some sort of projectile. The blades then protruded upward, and about half way up, there was another separation between the blades, perpendicular to the space running down the center of the blade. Throughout the blade, one could see omni-dust embedded within the metal.

The car drove off as the girls were still gawking from their respective hiding spots. The gate finally managed to close, and the girls emerged and regrouped back in front of the gate.

"I've never seen so much omni-dust in my entire life, yet he wears it like an accessory." Weiss stated, rather awestruck.

"Jealous, princess?" Yang asked in her mocking tone.

"Yes, actually. That much omni-dust could power an entire city. And did you see that car?" Weiss asked as she began to compartmentalize everything she just saw.

"No kidding. It looks so elegant, but that thing is built like a tank." Blake said while surprisingly monotone.

"I wonder how many shots it would take to blast a hole through it?!" Yang askes to no one in particular. "Hey Rubes, could your sniper – Ruby?" Yang said after turning around, slightly panicking.

Weiss and Blake turned around also to find the absence of their team leader. They all began looking around the gate for her and tried to see if she was still in the tree where she hid earlier. Yang, nearly having a heart attack, was calmed when she heard her sister's voice, "I'm over here guys!"

Ruby's voice came from behind the wall of the Knight-General's estate. The other three girls quickly climbed to the top of the wall to see Ruby standing on the Knight-General's lawn.

"Ruby, do you know how much trouble you could get in if anyone finds you here?!" Weiss asked with genuine trepidation.

"But no one is allowed in here, which means it's the perfect place to train. I mean, when he goes out on hunts, he's usually gone for days, or even, weeks at a time." Ruby state nonchalantly.

"But what if he does come back soon? He's been known to defeat entire herds of Goliaths in mere moments." Weiss stated while looking to her other teammates for support.

"You believe that crap? I mean he's good, probably better than anyone else in the world, but even that seems like a bit much." Yang said as she hopped down next to Ruby. "Besides, my sis is right, this would be an ideal place to train."

"You can't be serious!" Weiss asserted.

Weiss looked over to Blake, who just glanced around his manor for a few seconds before hopping down as well. "I don't see any maids or butlers, no security…it's just empty. He probably only lets people in under his direct supervision. If we want a secluded place to train, there's no better spot." Blake said while looking up at the heiress.

"C'mon Weiss, I'll share my cookies with you tonight!" Ruby said playfully.

"Get down here Ice Queen, we need to train or else we just reorganized our dorm for nothing." Yang said with steadfast determination.

Weiss knew that she had lost this battle, and a Schnee never abandons their comrades. Reluctantly, she jumped down and stood next her team. "We had better not lose the Hunt." Weiss stated.

"Yaaaayy!" Ruby squealed as she tackled Weiss in a bear hug that would rival Yang's.

Yang, as though fate had called upon her, grabbed Blake, the other two hugging girls, and scooped them all into a huge bear hug. After letting them go, her determination was replaced by and ear-to-ear grin. She looked them all dead in the eyes, readied Ember Celica, and shouted, "Alright ladies, show me what you're made of!"


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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 **Author's Note** : I'm sorry for the long wait you've had to endure for this chapter. I've read the reviews that I've gotten and I'm glad they were positive and constructive; that said, I will do my best to improve on what I can and not make the same mistakes. As for the long wait, please be aware that I am in college, with finals coming up, and I work full time, so it might be about a week-or- so in between chapters (though I realize it's been longer than a week since Chapter 1). I hope you can all bear with me until I have finished with finals, but until then this is the best that I can do. As always, please leave me any feedback you can, I want to keep improving and give you all a story to enjoy. Now, I imagine I've taken enough of your time, so please read on.

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Ruby just barely managed to evade a swift strike from Myrtenaster, using the recoil of her sniper rifle to propel herself backwards. In a flurry of rose petals she was instantly in the air, scythe raised above her head as she shot one final bullet from her rifle into the sky behind her and began accelerating to the ground. They both had worn down their auras to the point that the next hit they each took would definitely make contact with their bodies. Weiss barely had time to think as she began creating hand signs to summon a glyph. Time seemed to slow as Crescent Rose came down like a bolt of lightning into Weiss' shoulder. The blade buried deep into her flesh as blood began to spurt out.

"WEISS! Are you okay?!" Ruby yelled as she let go of Crescent Rose and tried to run toward her teammate; try as she might, however, she couldn't move her legs. She looked down only to notice a glyph surrounding her feet preventing her from moving. She was immediately brought back to reality when she felt a slight stinging sensation digging into her neck. She glanced upward seeing Weiss glaring at her with cold, uncaring eyes and Myrtenaster's blade right at her neck.

"That's it! Weiss wins!" Yang shouted at the two girls while pressing a button on her scroll.

Weiss' glare was immediately replaced by her normal snobby gaze, with a slight hint concern. "You dunce, don't ever drop your guard during a fight." She yelled.

"I was worried that I hurt you." Ruby said quietly, glancing down to her feet.

"Why were you worried, that's the point! What happens when you and that Torchwick guy are in this situation? Do you think he's going to think twice about blowing your head off?" Weiss said as she twisted Myrtenaster slightly, drawing a bit of blood from Ruby's neck.

"I know, I just…don't want my friends to get hurt. I don't want anyone to get hurt." Ruby whispered.

"How naïve." Weiss whispered. "If you really think that, why don't you start by removing this oversized gardening tool from my arm?" Weiss stated matter-of-factly with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh, right!" Ruby said as she pulled Crescent Rose from her partners shoulder. Noticing the amount of blood emerging from the wound, she swung her head towards her sister and asked frantically, "Why didn't you call the match earlier?"

"Ruby, this ain't Signal no more. You've gotta learn to keep fighting, no matter the stakes." Yang said nonchalantly.

"Indeed. You have to be ready to kill at a moment's notice." Weiss stated rather casually.

"But…" Ruby started to complain about her injury but saw that the blood had already clotted.

"But nothing, Ruby Rose! You know we're not in any real danger here, so now is the time to act as though your life were on the line, it's the only way you'll genuinely improve." Weiss argued.

"Okay…" Ruby muttered.

The largest spire, which protruded from Beacon academy, was not only Headmaster Ozpin's office, but also had an antenna which emitted tiny specs of microscopic dust which attaches themselves to a few of the oxygen atoms into the air. When inhaled, the dust would hide in the nucleus of the oxygen atoms, in order to be overlooked by the body's immune system, and would start healing the body's wounds when the blood began the clotting process around the injury. Medical personnel make use of this same mechanism, though at a much greater concentration of dust-infused oxygen.

"Ugh. Enough with the kicked puppy look, sis." Yang said sarcastically.

"I agree. It's a lesson, so it's best to learn from it." Blake said encouragingly.

"You had better be able to beat me, at least once, by the end of the week." Weiss stated in a slightly more caring tone. "Anyway, it's their turn to fight, so let's get out of their way." She stated.

Yang and Blake made their way to their battlefield. They stood about one foot from each other and looked one another in the eyes. Yang stood about two inches taller than the shadow warrior. They clashed their knuckles together and walked slowly back to their respective starting spots.

"Y'know, I ain't gonna go easy on you." Yang said smugly as she got into her standard boxing stance. "…and watch out for my right hook, it's killer." she stated and readied Ember Celica. The beautiful bracelets, in the matter of seconds, morphed into gauntlets which covered the majority of her hands and over half of her forearms. She gripped the triggers with her thumbs and stared at her opponent.

"Thank you for that kind advice, though I'm not terribly worried." Blake said as she calmly adjusted her feet to be slightly farther apart and gripped Gambol Shroud on her back.

Weiss looked at both of the girls and asked, "Ready?" After a quick nod from both of the combatants, she looked on as she spoke, "This will be a tournament-style fight and you will abide by the same rules. When one of your auras reaches the red level, the match will be called and a winner decided. Do you both clearly understand the rules laid out before you?"

Both Yang and Blake spoke very clearly, "Yes."

Weiss held up her scroll and prepared the tournament app the school had created. At the press of a button, an electron field would be crated within the general area of the scroll which repelled any dust-infused oxygen from getting through, making the fight much more realistic. The electron field would only be removed by manually by calling the fight and ending it through the app, or if one of the fighter's auras falls below the red and into the critical level.

"Begin." Weiss yelled while pressing the button on her scroll. Without a second to spare, Yang shot both of her gauntlets behind her and launched herself forward, clashing into what she thought was Blake. In an instant, Blake had formed a shadow clone and jumped into the air. While still above Yang, she threw Gambol and fired the weapon, for more distance, in order to imbed it into a nearby tree. She yanked on the ribbon while jumping off of another shadow clone, avoiding Yang's shot fired vertically at her, and sped toward the tree line.

Yang would have none of that; she fire Ember Celica once again, aiming, not for Blake, but at the ribbon which connected her weapon to her body. She managed to cut the fabric right in the middle, but Blake, unfazed, landed while rolling onto the ground, standing up right in front of the tree line.

Yang was already on her in a second, and began her barrage of left and right hooks. Without Gambol and Shroud, this was going to be an impossible fight to win. Going on the defensive, Blake narrowly dodged the volley of superheated punches. Knowing that Yang is rather mediocre against kicks, Blake dodges one last punch by backing up and, seemingly, falls backwards as though she tripped. Right before her back lands on the ground, she catches herself by placing her hands behind her back, against the grass. Using her cat-like reflexes and coordination, she balances herself on her hands, aims her heels upward, and extends her legs creating one powerful, two-legged kick which connects right with Yang's jaw.

"FUCK!" Yang yells, as she grips her jaw. A good fighter trains until it is second nature to have their aura, at least somewhat, guarding all vital spots of the body. The area at the bottom of the chin, connecting to the neck, was not one of those spots. She quickly shakes her head, the pain still emanating through her body, and glances forward only to see Blake running for Gambol. Yang fires a shot at the weapon embedded in the tree, knocking the tree down along with Gambol. With the pain subsiding slightly, she dashes for her opponent, who is darting her head back and forth to find her weapon among the debris.

She sees Gambol shining among the leaves and grabs hold of her weapon only to drop it immediately. Her hand was suddenly red and bleeding; it had been burned badly by the scalding hot metal. " _That was why you fired at Gambol…how ridiculous._ " She thought. As she readied Shroud for the assault that was sure to follow, since Yang showed no signs of letting up.

The golden warrior jumped into the air and fired her weapons behind her, giving her a massive burst of speed. Blake was on the defensive again trying to block as many fiery punches as she could, the ribbon that was hanging from her forearms, which Yang had shot through, was getting tangled in the tree debris around them. Grabbing Shroud and blocking one of her left hooks, Blake attempted to kick at her opponent's right knee from the side, but Yang was ready for it. She grabbed Blake's left leg as it come toward her, wrapping her forearm and bicep around it and bringing it up near her armpit. Blake suddenly felt a pain in her gut as Yang's left fist dug into her abdomen while her leg was still being held in the air. While trying to grab her stomach, Blake looked up, only to be thrown down by another punch from Yang. Yang walked over to her opponent, who laid still, and wondered if she had won the fight.

Suddenly, Yang felt a tug on her foot and looked down wondering if there was some sort of small animal interfering. Before she could react, however, she was upside-down, hanging from a tree by Blake's very own ribbon. Yang looked around to see that the shadow warrior's ribbon had not been getting randomly scattered about during the fight, but rather, had been strategically placed to trap the blonde boxer. Yang was knocked out of her amazement by the feeling of Blake's knee assaulting her face twice, her temple once, and, while dazed, Shroud quickly being raised vertically from its resting spot at Blake's leg. The slash cut clean through Yang's right gauntlet and slashed all the way up her arm and ended right below her shoulder.

" _That takes care of your right hook…_ " Blake thought as she picked the now cooled Gambol off of the ground. Yang was still in a daze from the kick she took to her temple, and the pain from the slash was probably not helping much. She was even losing a moderate, but not dangerous, amount of blood from the cut; luckily the gauntlet protected her wrist and no other major arteries or veins had been cut, but it was still very deep. " _I didn't actually mean to cut her so severely…one could probably see the bone if they move the cut skin and muscle out of the way slightly._ " Blake pondered. She kicked Yang in the stomach, but kept her foot there, pressing the blonde up against the tree she was hanging on. Blake then aimed none other than Gambol right in between Yang's eyes and, with worried determination, readied herself to pull the trigger,

Weiss stood up and opened her mouth, presumably to call the match, but was interrupted by her shorter partner's hand pulling her back down to sit. "What in the world is wrong with you, dolt? Do you want your sister to die?" Weiss asked angrily.

"Don't you worry about her, she isn't done yet." Ruby said with a clear concern on her face, but with a hint of happiness from Weiss' concern. "I said I don't want anyone getting hurt, but Yang is the one person does that stuff purposely." The reaper turned and gave Weiss a reassuring smile. Without a second to spare, both of the girls darted their heads back to the fight at the sound of a loud bang.

The bullet was instantly incinerated as it comes into contact with Yang's aura. Yang was going all out now, her hair was ablaze and her eyes a violent red. Blake stood still and unfazed as she watched her partner burn through the ribbon holding her up and land on her two legs. Yang's aura instantly cauterized the long wound, and she glared daggers at her opponent. " _Yeah, of course…_ " Blake sighed. The two once again readied themselves in their respective fighting stances, reloaded their weapons, or in Yang's case weapon, and were prepared to go all out.

At the feeling of a gust of wind, Yang shot at Blake, who jumped backwards out of the way. Yang was already in front of her getting ready to throw a punch, but with only one gauntlet, she was relying on her left hook for any finishing blows. Yang was a beast with her assault, using her left hand to aim for Blake's vital areas and her right for Blake's bony prominences. Though her right gauntlet was gone, she still had a crazy amount of strength to work with.

However, Blake seemed to notice a trend within Yang's rage filled state, she always glanced to where she was going to attack, before punching that area. She used this to her advantage when she saw Yang glance down toward her left abdomen; Blake acted as though she left it wide open. The second Yang took the bait, Blake quickly ducked under her swinging arm, the momentum continuing to propel Yang forward slightly, and, while behind Yang, slashed at her back using Shroud.

To Blake's utmost surprise, even with blood now gushing down her back, Yang turned around and punched with her right hand. Blake brought up Shroud to guard herself but Yang's fiery punch melted the metal slightly allowing her punch to go clean through the weapon and connect with her jaw. Blake flew backwards into a tree and was forced to let go of Shroud since Yang had decided to hold onto it by the hole she had created.

Yang threw Shroud at Blake and watched it spin like boomerang and dig itself right into Blake's forehead. Upon impact, the Blake-shadow disappeared and Yang was darting her head back and forth looking for her opponent. Since Blake had jumped up the tree when she left her shadow clone, she had still been hit by the flying Gambol in her right side. After managing to flank Yang from above, she noticed that the slash on her back was still bleeding profusely, and wasn't closing either. " _Her aura must be getting low._ " Blake surmised while looking for a place to attack from. " _But then again, I couldn't even stop my own weapon from piercing my skin…I don't think I can last much longer._ " She thought while glancing at her right hand covering her bleeding cut.

Her thought were interrupted with the sight of Yang flexing her aura. " _I need to show myself before she starts burning down the trees._ " Blake panicked. She quickly leapt across a few branches to get right above Yang, and immediately darted downwards, bringing Gambol down like a guillotine. It seemed to work at first since Yang's back was bent as though she was looking down, from the sheer force of Gambol. But, as Yang began to straighten herself out, Blake saw that the slash had been blocked by Yang's aura.

Blake couldn't even react when Yang brought up her foot and kicked right at her left knee. Blake buckled and fell to the ground, grasping at her leg; it was broken. Yang kicked Gambol out of Blake's hand and watched as it slid across the dirt. When the match wasn't called within a few seconds, Yang was immediately on top of her, straddling her waist. Blake was about to punch her opponent until she saw Yang's lilac eyes return.

"Give up." Yang said sternly.

Blake began to speak "Didn't we just have this conversation with your sister? We're in the middle –"

"Give. Up." Yang cut her off while raising her right fist back ready to punch.

Blake was looking Yang right in the eyes. "Do it."

Yang's eyes flashed red, "GOD DAMNIT!" she screamed while launching her fist at her opponent, which embedded itself into the ground right next the Blake's head.

"That was the hand without the gauntlet. The next time you're going to bluff someone, make sure you remain consistent." Blake said calmly while pushing Yang off of her.

"Why do you want to keep going? You can't even continue the fight." Yang asked angrily.

"Because you, evidently, need to learn to finish your opponents before they can come back and bite you in the ass." Blake stated quickly. "…just like I had to learn." She then muttered inaudibly.

Yang was just a foot-or-so away. Blake grabbed hold of a boulder next to her and pulled herself up, leaning against the rock for support. Yang was already in her fighting stance. " _She's about to end this as quickly as possible._ " Blake thought. The moment Yang stepped forward, she noticed that Blake had begun to grasp her ribbon. Before she could even move an inch, Blake pulled the ribbon as hard as she could and watched as Gambol fired and launched towards the blonde.

The blade embedded itself deep into Yang's thigh and, as she buckled forward, Blake brought her good knee up as hard as she could and hit Yang right in the nose and forehead. Blake's knee was swiftly pulled away as a red-eyed Yang charged her and, with one powerful punch, nailed Blake right under her sternum, causing her to gasp for air and breaking a few ribs. Whenever Blake took a breath, there would be a searing pain that would shoot throughout her body.

"That's enough!" Weiss yelled out. "Yang is the winner! Blake's aura has entered the red!" Weiss pushed the button on her scroll and the app ended. Within a few seconds, Blake could breathe normally again.

"I'm proud of you Yang, even though it took some 'persuading' for you to finish the battle." Blake said while smiling slightly.

"Fuck…you kick hard, babe." Yang managed to get out right before she fell to the ground face first.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she appeared with a flurry of rose petals.

I was only now that we noticed Gambol in her thigh, and more specifically, how much blood was coming out. "The blade must had hit an artery, we need to get her to the medical staff now!" Blake half-yelled. The dust-infused oxygen only worked if the oxygen was still being pumped through your body. A nicked artery made it impossible for her to start healing.

"I got it!" Ruby said. Without missing a beat, she had her sister in her arms and a flurry of rose petals took her place.

"What about you, Blake?" Weiss asked offering a hand to her.

Blake started, "I'll probably be fine without medical attention, but I want to go to the medical ward and make sure that Yang is okay; so –"

"– they will indubitably heal you, as well, and ask what happened?" Weiss stated, finishing my thought. Blake nodded as she took Weiss' hand and put her arm around her teammate's neck.

"Don't you worry about that…" Weiss said as we began walking to the infirmary.

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Yang slowly begins to open her eyes and is immediately greeted by a death hug from her younger sister. " _Damn, I should've never showed her that._ "

"Chill out Rubes, I don't need you killing me." Yang said softly.

"Yang, do you remember what happened?" Ruby asked while sitting back down to Yang's right with worry written all over her face.

"What do you…" Yang starts before she begins looking around. After seeing that she was in a hospital room, all of the memories come flooding back all at once. "Yeah, me and Blakey were going all out and…" She said while holding her throbbing head.

"Yeah, you guys got serious, but Blake managed to get a pretty nice hit in." Ruby said. A noise goes off and Yang looks over to see that Ruby had her scroll out. "I just told Blake and Weiss that you were up, they went down to the food court a minute ago. I asked them to bring you something because I thought you might be hungry, so they'll be here in a few." Ruby said smiling.

"Wait, how long was I out for?" Yang asked in a panic.

"Calm down, it's only been a few hours." Ruby said in a calming tone. "And they said that you'd be fine to go home as soon as you woke up and they checked you out." She said again, in a reassuring manner.

The doors open and the sisters are greeted by the view of their other two teammates. "How are you feeling Yang?" Blake asked quickly while sitting to the left of Yang, giving her a bag from her favorite fast food place 'McRemnant.' Weiss simply walked over, sat next to Ruby, and began eating her pasta.

"Peachy. And that was an awesome fight, by the way. I loved every fucking minute." Yang said while pulling out a burger.

"I agree. But next time maybe we can get away without a hospitalization." Blake said while pulling out a salad from the same bag.

"I think the more injured we get, the more we bond. Y'know blood sisters!" Yang said sarcastically while eating her food. "By the way, what about your leg? You're walking, so that's good." Yang asked.

"I came in her after Weiss helped me here and they put me on high-dust-concentration oxygen. That with a few anti-biotics and I was walking in about four hours. Though the doctor said we won't be completely healed for about 24 hours…assuming we keep taking our oxygen treatment every four hours." Blake says while handing Yang her prescription dust inhaler.

"Well that's good, at least. It'd suck if our training interfered with the hunt." Yang stated while throwing the burger wrapper into the bag and placing it on the ground.

"We can go whenever you're ready, by the way." Weiss said, throwing away her to-go box,

"But doesn't the doctor have to come and examine Yang again?" Ruby asked.

"She's fine as long as she has the inhaler…and I gave him a little 'incentive' to keep quiet about this whole ordeal." Weiss said as she brushed off her skirt.

"Works for me!" Yang said as jumped out of bed next to Ruby.

Ruby was giggling until she saw Blake's face. The normally calm and neutral teammate was flushed red and had the most embarrassed look on her face. "Are you alright Blake?" She asked.

"Uh…um…y-yea… uh…Y-Yang your…gown…it's…uh…o-o-open." Blake just barely managed to squeak out as she hid her face in her hands.

Yang turned her head and looked down and noticed that her butt was fully exposed for her partner to see. "Ha-ha, whoops." Yang said, clearly not caring. She grabbed the two separations in the cloth and closed them with her left hand.

"I think we should let her get changed." Weiss said.

"Yeah, let's go wait in the hall." Ruby said while giggling.

The two girls followed walked to the door and opened it waiting for Blake, who quickly got up and ran past the two girls. When Ruby and Weiss exited the room, Blake, who was trying to calm her nerves via deep breaths, glanced back at the door only to see Yang give her a quick, playful wink. Of course, her pulse immediately began emulating that of a jack-hammer. " _Ugh, that fool. What kind of game is she playing? Why doesn't she care that she showed someone that sweet ass–_ " Blake's thoughts were cut off by the embarrassment of her own mind. All the while Ruby was giggling at how red Blake's face had become.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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 **Author's Note** : I think I actually managed to get this one out within a week's time. As always, I'm wanting any reviews you can leave me so I can improve. Feel free to suggest other things you might want to read in this story. I've got a general idea for the plot I want, but I can probably incorporate some things if I think it will go along with the story well.

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" _6:00am. Ugh, why can't I just talk with them a little longer?_ " Ruby thought. "Sorry guys, but I have to get going. Team RWBY has to get ready for the day!" She said in faux confidence.

"Okay! We'll all be watching the Hunt live, so don't screw up! Go get 'em, girl!" Ruby smiled as the familiar voices praised her. "Bye~" They all sang as Ruby waived.

Without a missing a beat, she put her scroll away, grabbed her whistle, and let out a strong burst of air through the small orifice. Within just a few seconds, the sound was cut off by a pillow slamming into her face. The sheer force knocked her onto her butt and, after removing the pillow, she looked up to see a single red eye glaring at her from atop one of the makeshift bunks within their room. The angle at which she was looking made it possible to just barely see her sister.

"I swear to God, Rubes…" Yang yelled as her eyes returned back to their normal lilac color.

"You are such a pest." Weiss said as she covered her face with her blanket.

"C'mon! The Hunt is the day after tomorrow! Aren't you guys excited?!" Ruby said elated as the door to the bathroom closed. She glanced to her teammates and saw the conspicuous absence of Black hair.

"When in the hell did she even get up?" Yang asked with clear annoyance at her sister's actions.

"Doesn't matter. She's got the right idea!" Ruby said with her usual excitement as she began to attempt to grasp her fallen whistle from the ground. She turned her head to see the carpet bare and whined, "Huh?! Where'd it goooo?" Suddenly, a flushing toilet could be heard just barely overtaking the rapid clanking of metal smacking against the porcelain.

While laughing, Yang managed to stammer out a few words in between gasps of air, "I…love…ya…Blakey! Good fucking riddance!"

Ruby's puffed her cheeks out and pouted; Weiss couldn't help but peek out of the blanket and stare at the shorter girl. " _Why do I feel bad whenever I see her so sad. I know she's young and my friend, but…_ " Weiss thought. It was, indeed, strange since she felt a tugging against her heart every time her leader was harmed in any way. " _I've only known her for a few days now, why do I care?!_ " Weiss yelled in her mind. She simply held her head against her pillow and let the blanket recover her head.

After Blake exited the bathroom, later, she made no effort to apologize or even acknowledge that she had done anything out of the ordinary. Weiss was the next to get cleaned up and ready for the day, leaving Yang as the last one to enter the bathroom due to the obnoxious amount of time she spent on her hair.

The girls were all prepared, exited their dorm, and began heading toward the cafeteria. Yang had a slight limp in her left leg, and her body seemed rather sluggish, still recovering from the previous day. Blake couldn't help but notice, her own leg having almost fully healed from not only from the inhaler, but from her own little addition to her healing process. Her teammates were currently unaware, but Blake was once part of the infamous White Fang. Her time as a member of this 'domestic terrorism group,' as the media called it, made her more than well-versed in anatomy and physiology. Not for the sake of knowledge, but because members were usually injured quite often, but would be apprehended if they were to seek professional medical attention.

So, self-administered stitching, mending, and all around general healing was basic knowledge for most of the group. Before reaching the medical ward, the day prior, Blake took it upon herself to readjust her bone and, to her credit, did quite a good job at it. If it weren't for Weiss' bribe, the doctors would have probably bombarded Blake with questions about how she broke her bone in the first place, since it was such an 'impossibly clean break.'

"How are you feeling, Yang?" Blake asked with clear trepidation in her voice.

"Don't worry about me, Blakey! It's all healed up." Yang said with a smirk. "But, it's so sweet of you to care~" Yang then stated, sarcastically.

"Then, why are you limping?" Blake asked, ignoring her partner's provoking.

"Side effect." Yang said plainly.

"Care to…elaborate?" Weiss said while looking to her left, passed the other two team members, at Yang.

"It's your semblance, right Yang?" Ruby asked in a less of an inquisitive tone and more of an explanatory one.

"Yeah. Basically, when I get roughed up, my aura converts some of the energy used against me into power that I can dish out. I can still be injured, but, when I've absorbed enough power, I can't really feel it. It's like the high from my rage blocks out the pain. The downside: after my rage is done, I can feel the full extent of the pain, from the injuries, all at once. Think of it like drinking; you get fucked up at night, and the next morning you feel like shit." Yang explained as she began digging in her pockets, and other compartments, for something.

"So how much pain are you in, exactly?" Blake asked as she secretly worried about her partner.

"Awwww~" Yang said as she pulled out a bottle from her bra. Upon closer inspection, Blake noticed it was a bottle of Aleve. She was surprised when Yang popped open the cap and downed three like candy. "A lot." she said after swallowing the pills.

"I feel rather bad about complaining about my own sore muscles now." Blake said with a quick chuckle.

"Don't, I'm sure this brute has gotten herself into worse situations." Weiss said in an uncaring tone.

"You've got no idea!" Ruby said while laughing.

"What can I say? There ain't a lot of stuff worse than being boring! Besides, Rubes loosened me up a bit, so don't you worry about me." Yang said nonchalantly.

"I had no idea your semblance had a deeper function than making you Hulk out." Weiss stated with her hand on her chin. "What about you two? I know Ruby's semblance is speed and Blake's is the ability to produce shadow clones…but is there more to it than that?" She asked genuinely.

"Ummm…yeah, I can manipulate the nucleus of most organic molecules and compounds that my aura has a direct connection to. Since my aura is always connected to me, I can speed up and slowdown stuff like my adrenaline, white blood cells, and blood. If I'm running, then I concentrate adrenaline and blood to my leg muscles making the aerobic respiration increase a lot, and making my muscles and tendons more efficient, and by extension, faster. That's also how I use Crescent Rose so easily, by concentrating on my arm muscles more." Ruby explained as all of her teammates stared at her in amazement.

"That was…an impressive explanation." Blake said. All three girls nodded in agreement noticing how smart Ruby was when it came to anything relating to fighting in general. " _There's a reason she was made the leader, I suppose._ " Blake thought as she turned her head to her partner who was starting to say something.

"Wait…so you…have more stamina wherever you concentrate your 'fluids' and other stuff?" Yang asked while trying to compartmentalize everything she heard.

"I believe so, however…" Blake switched from looking at Yang to Ruby, "…shouldn't that make you extremely tired afterwards? Tired wouldn't be a good word actually…you would be pushing your body well beyond its' natural limits; how do you even stay conscious? After all you did in the Emerald Forest, you should have passed out." Blake wondered curiously.

"Have you seen how much she eats? All those calories are probably used during her fights." Weiss said with a small grin.

"So THAT'S how you eat all those sweets and never gain a pound!" Yang shouted at her sister causing Blake and Weiss to start laughing.

"I guess so, and I bet her sweet tooth is the behavioral result of her constantly draining her muscle's glucose storage and needing to consume more carbs to refill them." Blake pondered while looking at Yang's annoyed face. Indeed Yang's semblance made her less susceptible to gaining weight, but she still liked sweets as much as anyone else and would love to splurge like her sister.

"During your explanation, you said 'whatever your aura has a connection to,' right? Does that mean you can manipulate other people's…um…organic molecules, too?" Weiss asked, reverting back to her earlier inquisitive nature in order to learn more about her teammates. The team had become serious again as they opened the doors to the cafeteria.

"Yes and no. I can manipulate them so long as I have a connection to that person's aura, but…you know…an aura has to be compatible. I can alter my aura slightly and, if the other person does the same, we can connect enough for me to help." Ruby says, while grabbing a tray and getting in line behind Yang and Blake, with Weiss behind her.

"But what if the person you're trying to help is unconscious?" Blake asked while grabbing a bowl of mixed fruit, a few slices of toast, and a bottle of orange juice.

"Unless I've got some kind of strong connection with them already, I won't be able to do anything." Ruby said while getting herself a triple order of double-chocolate-chip pancakes, a blueberry muffin, and two bottles of milk.

"Wait, is that how you helped my pain this morning…and here I always thought you were just good at giving massages, sis." Yang asked after grabbing a biscuit, scrambled eggs, a huge pile of bacon, and a massive espresso.

"Yeah, I've helped you after a lot of fights in the past, so I know your aura pretty well now." Ruby said as they all moved through the line.

"I think it would be best to get you to learn myself and Blake's aura at some point, that little power of yours sounds amazing to have during a fight." Weiss states as she looks at her choice of food to choose from. She ultimately decides on grabbing a bowl of oatmeal, a bowl of blueberries to put in it, a banana, and a bottle of water.

"Does your semblance have any negative side effects like Yang's?" Blake asked as they all pay for their meals and begin walking to an open table.

"Well, there's the whole calories thing. If it's been a while since I ate, or I know I won't eat for a considerable period of time, I have to be careful. Using too much energy without refueling can send my body into shock." Ruby said as all four girls sat down. "But that's obvious. More importantly, the body is supposed to regulate its' own stoichiometry, so when I start messing with things in there, I can possibly put my body into a serious chemical imbalance, if I'm not careful."

"So that's why Professor Ozpin plans on putting you through those biochemistry courses." Weiss says as she begins mixing the blueberries into her meal.

"Yeah, but that's really only to help me understand the details behind it. I can already tell when my body's is starting to reach its' limit. First, I usually get a headache at the back of my head and top of the back of my neck. Then my muscles may start to twitch and spasm, getting a little worse gradually. Finally, I will feel my limbs fall asleep and go numb, at which point I will fall unconscious." Ruby explains happy to finally get to inhale her chocolate breakfast.

"Ohhhhh, so that's why you and Uncle Qrow used to train for so long!" Yang stated before downing a quarter of her espresso in one gulp.

"Mhm! Hu untad ma ta bood a toence fu it!" Ruby spouted out with her mouth full.

"How about you speak without your mouth stuffed full of food, you dunce!" Weiss said while glaring at her partner sitting to her left.

Ruby swallowed her food and spoke again, "I said~ He wanted me to build a tolerance for it." Ruby again started filling her mouth full of food.

"I understand now." Blake said while taking a bite from her toast.

"What about yourself, Blake? Does your semblance have more to it than meets the eye?" Weiss asked while turning her head to her other teammate.

"That's a really good choice of words, actually." Blake stated while wiping her mouth with a napkin. "My semblance actually relies on 'what meets the eye,' as you say. As you may or may not know, light is both a particle and a wave, meaning that its properties are quite unique. Since what your brain perceives, as vision, is the light being reflected off of an object, I force the light reflected off of my body to remain still, and, by extension, I go invisible…until I get more than about 3 meters away. That's when my aura is no longer strong enough to hold the light in place." She said as she begins to eat her fruit once again.

"I see. But I have seen you using your clones as a platform to leap from; how do you do that if it's just light there." Weiss asked as she took another bite from her blueberry oats.

"My aura does not keep the light still from a distance. To keep the light still, I leave a small portion of my aura around my clone in the shape of my body. Then I extend my aura, at a slightly different concentration, out of wherever I plan on connecting to the clone from. If I have to jump on top of it, I will force a bit of my aura through my feet…when it hits the aura around the clone, they repel each other. However, the aura surrounding the clone is not strong enough to handle most attacks, so it cannot be used as a shield." Blake explained while picking up her last piece of toast.

"Wow, that's sooo cool. I can't imagine how much coordination it must take for you to do that. Managing your aura so precisely that even light can't squeeze through…awesoooooome~" Ruby said after swallowing another mouthful of chocolate pancakes.

"That is pretty badass…but, what happens to the aura around your clone once it goes away?" Yang asked as she committed pork homicide to the bacon on her plate.

"Unfortunately, it simply dissipates. Whether I move far enough away, or someone slice's through my clone's aura, it is gone…some might call it a waste of energy. That is actually where I got the whole swinging ribbon action from. I use my ribbon to travel on the battlefield so I can preserve more of my energy for the fight." Blake said before finishing her last piece of toast.

"So, basically, you use your aura to take the light, being reflected from your body, and store it in a single spot while you move away from it? However, the aura cannot handle any attacks or lengthy distances, so you will lose it after a while?" Weiss asked to clarify.

"Yes." Blake said as she began to focus on the rest of her fruit.

"Any drawbacks?" Yang said while taking another bite from her biscuit and mentally cursing herself for forgetting the gravy.

"Not particularly. Obviously I use energy every time I create a clone, but other than that…well, for some reason I cannot manipulate the light of other objects, even though there is no reasonable explanation for me not to be able to. I don't know if my semblance is incapable, or if I have not learn how to yet." Blake said as she began to finish her fruit.

"That's quite interesting." Weiss said after she peeled the banana and begin to take a bite.

"Oh yeah~ Be gentle, baby…" Yang said right as Weiss had a bit of the banana on her lips.

"Ugh. You disgusting oaf." Weiss said as she placed her banana down and went back to finish her oats.

Ruby's cheeks flushed red at Yang's comment and tried to change the subject, "W-what about y-y-you, Weiss? Your…uh…semblance…glyphs, right?" The younger girl muttered.

"Yes. To put it in layman's terms, I can extend my aura over a certain distance and, by varying the concentration and frequency of it, the glyphs will have different properties. For example, I could make one of my glyphs resonate at a frequency perfectly in sync to whatever it is touching to make my glyph attach to it until I change the frequency of it again." Weiss said, taking the last bite of her oats.

"Is that what you did while we were in the Emerald Forest fighting the Nevermore? Your glyph held me in place while you aimed at the Grimm, then let me go when you waved your fingers." Ruby wondered aloud as she picked up her blueberry muffin and began to eat it.

"Precisely. It is a well-developed version of what Blake does when she jumps from her clones." Weiss said with a proud look on her face and arms crossed over her chest.

"Ooooohh, sounds like she's calling you out, Blakey." Yang said as though she was trying to instigate an argument.

"I'm fairly certain that is not what she was trying to accomplish. Though it makes sense that you would be better at it than myself…didn't you say that your semblance was genetic?" Blake asked after shrugging off Yang's comment.

"Yes, it is. My father and grandfather were both able to use glyphs, as well as my sister." Weiss sad while attempting to take a bite of her banana. Right as she placed fruit on her tongue, Yang let out a very suggestive moan only loud enough for her teammates to hear. Weiss scoffed as she threw her fruit down once again and Ruby hid her face with her hair as she looked down toward her lap and twirled her thumbs.

Blake, however, felt a warm sensation within her body and a shiver shoot up her spine at the sound her partner made just a foot away from her. " _How can she manage to be so vulgar with two people she just met not even a week ago?_ " Blake thinks while looking at Yang's younger sister. " _A better question would be how her sister has managed to remain so innocent throughout their childhood...hopefully I'll get used to this._ " She thought wondering why she gets that warm feeling in the first place. It's the same kind of feeling you get when you are really excited to do something that you've been waiting to do.

"So, Weiss, are there any negative sides to your semblance?" Blake asked after regaining her composure.

"Similar to yourself, I do not regain any energy used for my glyphs after they disperse. However, it is important to point out that my glyphs cannot discriminate. For example, if I have an explosive glyph set for an enemy, do not run near it expecting it to leave you unharmed because you will end up the same as any other unfortunate Grimm to walk upon it." Weiss stated in a serious tone followed by drinking the rest of her water.

"Meh, I'd be fine." Yang stated and kicked her feet onto the table since she had finished her breakfast.

"Assuming you did survive, I don't even want to imagine how much pain you would be in the following morning. It would take more than a few pills of Aleve to help you." Blake said, finishing her orange juice and placing her trash on Yang's tray and doubling up their trays.

"You'd better not try to test that, Yang!" Ruby said as the other three girls began to chuckle. "What's so funny?! I'm being serious!" She partially screamed.

" _You are too cute for your own good…_ " Weiss thought and immediately shook her head mentally. " _INNOCENT. To innocent for her own good._ " She corrected herself as she grabbed Ruby's chin and brought a napkin up to her partner's mouth. "Honestly, I had better not have to baby you forever." Weiss stated while wiping the very conspicuous milk-mustache Ruby had after downing her milk.

"T-thanks…" Ruby said with a deep red crawling across her face.

"No problem. Now, since we're all done eating, shall we make our leave?" Weiss asked her team.

"You're not done eating yet…" Yang stated with a grin while pointing at Weiss' uneaten banana.

"It seems to me that you would rather have it. Besides, you probably have plenty of experience with it." Weiss shot at the brawler.

"Ha! The only thing that I heard out of that was that you're inexperienced and I'm a sexy heart-breaker!" Yang stated with no hesitation.

"What an excellent role model…" Weiss mumbled while picking up her banana and finally taking a bite.

"No wonder you're a virgin if that's how you treat it…news flash: don't use teeth." Yang said with a smirk across her face.

Weiss said nothing but simply threw the peel at her, which landed on Yang's boot. Blake and Ruby were both quite red, but were staring to giggle. "Did I miss the joke?" Yang asked after kicking the peel onto the double stacked tray.

"I'm just glad that you two are getting along." Ruby said while picking up her tray. "C'mon guys, let's go."

"So, are we going to go and train now?" Yang asked after they threw away their trays and left the cafeteria, heading towards the front entrance to Beacon.

"I don't think that is a good idea, since we're still healing and all. We can have another training session tomorrow." Blake stated.

"But we're gonna get behind if we don't keep up our training…" Yang argued.

"That's not necessarily true. What we've been talking about during lunch helps us out a lot, also. We're are going to be a team for the next four years, so it probably did us some good to learn a little bit about each other." Weiss said in an uplifting tone.

"Yep. And now we need to incorporate what we've learned into our fighting to make better use of our strength's and cover our weaknesses." Ruby said excitedly.

"That's cool, but what are we gonna do right now if we aren't training?" Yang asked, crossing her arms behind her head.

"I actually need to go and buy some more ammo for Crescent Rose, so I'll be heading into Vale soon." Ruby said while pulling out her scroll.

"I think I'll go with you, I would like to visit a few book stores and perhaps find something of interest." Blake explained while also looking at her scroll for the list of books she wants.

"There's actually a book store across the street from a boxing gym I like. Called Tukson's Book Trade; my dad would get my textbooks for Signal from him. He's a cool-cat…or wolf, I guess." Yang said while looking at her partner.

"Wolf?" Blake inquired carefully, expecting the answer.

"Yeah, he's a wolf Faunus. I like hearing his stories about the White Fang! He used to be a part of 'em, then he got pissed at all the murdering, theft, and assault that started happening." Yang said while smiling.

"…A-and you're okay with that?" Blake asked, hiding her worry at the possible answer.

"Back in his White Fang days, they were still doing the protesting and gaining a huge following from Faunus and Humans. When the shit-storm went down, and the leadership changed to that new guy, things started to get violent and he didn't like that one bit." Yang explained with a very serious tone. "So, to answer your question: yeah, I'm okay with it. He and others like him are cool." She said while smiling to Blake.

Blake let out a huge mental sigh of relief, but wondered about her other teammates. Especially the Heiress of the White Fang's biggest enemy. "What do you guys think about that?" She asked while turning to her other teammates.

"Same." Ruby said while still staring at her scroll, presumably at what kind of ammo she'd be buying soon. "There are too many people being mean to the Faunus over a stupid war that happened like a hundred years ago or something. I love everybody!" Ruby said while looking up to Blake and smiling while speaking the last part.

"I've had quite a difficult life thanks to the White Fang, so I adamantly despise them…but I suppose I agree with Yang. The problems with the White Fang only began when this aggressive nature surfaced. As for the Faunus in general, I have no quarrel." Weiss said in her usual Ice Queen attitude.

" _That is quite a relief…maybe I can get through these four years after all._ " Blake thought to herself.

"Okay, so we're heading to Vale right now?" Yang asked as she pushed open the front doors to Beacon academy.

"Yep! We'll take an airship to Vale and split up." Ruby said gleefully.

"We?" Weiss asked in annoyance.

"Yeah, I want you to come help me pick out the ammo. There's no better person I want helping me pick what to get when it comes to dust." Ruby clarified right before giving Weiss a hug.

"Buttering her up and then asking for a favor…I've taught you so much." Yang said while mocking a sad face at her lest statement.

"Fine…" Weiss said quietly as all four girls went straight for the airship docks straight ahead of them.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

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 **Author's Note** : At first, I was going to make this chapter a filler so I could quickly get back to studying, but as I wrote, I saw the potential to add in a bit of background for my AU characters. So I did! This is my final exam week, so this chapter is still filler-ish, but it turned out a lot better than I though it would. Thank you all so much for reading, I love waking up and seeing more views, follows, favorites, and reviews for my story. Speaking of which, please leave me any reviews you can so I can do gooder at grammer. And now, on with the show…

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It only took them about 45 minutes to get from Beacon to downtown Vale via airship. During their trip, Blake had decided to read a few more chapters of her favorite series, Ninjas of Love. Yang was listening to her music, which annoyed Weiss slightly since she could hear the voices of the vocalists in her 'screamo' songs, as Yang called it. Ruby was reading through one of her magazine subscriptions, Guns 'n Swords. Weiss, however, simply looked out the window and let herself drift off into a daydream.

Weiss often found herself reliving her past mistakes and wrong-doings. This isn't necessarily different from what other people do, except most people would relive these experiences to think of ways that an outcome could have been changed. Not Weiss, she relived her pain and misery for the sole purpose of reminding herself of who she is and what her goals are.

" _I am Weiss Schnee, daughter of Wolfgang Schnee and Elizabeth Schnee. I live for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Schnee name. I am not free; freedom is for those who are too weak to hold power. The weak call this freedom the 'right to choose;' a farcical excuse told because they are too weak to obtain power. They believe that they can demand things from those in power, when in actuality, it is by the powerful's good graces that they may even speak. I am a Schnee, I am powerful, and I will prove it._ " Weiss thought of the words that her father told her is the creed she must live by. She believed every bit of it, right down to the letter.

Her father is a staunchly traditional man. He is extremely conservative of his values and beliefs, thinking that, should they ever be broken, the Schnee Dust Company would fall. The company was his entire life, and he expected it to be his daughter's as well. She was taught that should she waver from the path he had laid out for her, she would be punished. Weiss had never went to a public school in her life, and her only friends were the maids and butlers that took care of her, if they could be called friends. Ultimately, no one actually even knew that she existed, aside from the federal papers with her name on it.

Without ever actually saying it, her father had made it clear that no one would miss her should she ever disobey him. Weiss was able to figure out from an early age who ruled the world…or rather, what rule the world. Money. And her father was arguably one of the wealthiest men in all of Remnant. She was given all that she needed, physically…a roof, a bed, clothing, food, and other necessities. Her mental side, however, was left starved, deprived of any compassion or love. She remained sane only because of the rigorous study habits that were forced upon her, not allowing herself any time to wallow in self-pity.

Weiss' upbringing was cold and callused, causing a metaphorical wall of ice to form around the heiress' heart. She had practiced speaking to people in a formal manner as part of her teaching, but Beacon was the true test of her silver tongue. She was constantly worrying about what her father would say about Weiss not becoming the leader of her own team. Instead, the heiress was simply at another person's disposal; a tool to be used and discarded when the time arose…at least, that is what she believed.

Weiss looked at her young leader at the corner of her eye and truly was angry that this young girl was her superior. Ruby was constantly trying to make them train as a team as much as possible, to learn more about each other beyond fighting tactics, and worst of all, she treated Weiss like a long lost friend. " _We are not friends, you pest. We are comrades. And a day will come when we go our separate ways…why won't you simply leave me alone?_ " Weiss thought to herself not noticing the doors to the airship opening.

"Hellooo~ Remnant to Weiss, come in Weiss. You okay?" Ruby asked.

Weiss simply scoffed, stood up, and walked past the young leader, leaving Ruby more than confused. Ruby stood there for a second, wondering what was bothering her teammate, before jogging to catch up to Weiss. Yang and Blake were walking a small distance in front of them talking about something; they had been talking about ways to improve their fighting coordination before they stood up and left Ruby with Weiss.

"Weiss? What's wrong?" Ruby asked after catching up to the heiress. Weiss not only said nothing, but didn't even acknowledge Ruby's inquiry. "Weiss? Did I do something wrong?" The young girl asked, worry intertwined within her tone. Again, Weiss said nothing, leaving Ruby no choice but to push onward. "If I did, I'm sorry. Weiss? Please talk to me…" Ruby said the last three words very quietly.

"Heya! Sis! Me and Blakey are gonna to head to that book store and then hit the gym across the street! You two stay outa' trouble, kay?" Yang shouted while looking back.

"No problem." Ruby said pushing aside her worries for a moment. Weiss only gave a half wave at the two taller girls. With that, Blake and Yang turned and began their own escapade to their destination. Ruby was still waving until her sister and teammate turned around a corner; out of her peripheral vision, she noticed Weiss' eyes slightly downcast and staring into space.

"Weiss?" Ruby slowly inquired. "Please talk to me, I just want to try and help you. I can't fix whatever I did wrong if I don't know what it is. C'mon…friends should be able to work things out." Ruby stated not knowing that could have been the trigger to set Weiss off.

Weiss was about to turn around and give the young leader a piece of her mind, but seeing Ruby's face stopped her in her tracks. Weiss sighed and spoke softly, "I had remembered something while we were flying here and It left me slightly agitated. Please do not worry about it."

Ruby looked at her teammate and voiced her concerns, "Are you sure? I could–"

"Yes. I am sure." Weiss said coldly, cutting off Ruby.

"You can talk with me if you need to, I'm a good listener. Anyway, the ammo shop is this way, c'mon!" Ruby stated as she changed her expression to that of a care-free one.

The ammo shop that they were headed to was not too far away, only a few blocks from the air docks…placed there so that shipments to the Hunters of Beacon were not delayed. The hunting academies scattered around Remnant were not only places of education, but also a place for Hunters to restock and regroup before missions.

The walk to the shop was filled with a bit of empty words, conversations that ultimately led nowhere. Weiss didn't notice, but Ruby had been glancing at her every few moments to try to get a read on her teammate, and maybe find out what was bothering her. Before she could continue her survey Weiss' emotions, an annoyingly familiar voice was coming from around the corner.

"…crap is nothing compared to the stuff back home." The most familiar voice said.

"Yeah, I could mine better dust than this." Another voice stated sarcastically.

Ruby rushed up to turn the corner only to spot a man that she has disliked since her days at Signal. If there was one bad thing about skipping a few grades and going to Beacon, it was that she had to deal with Cardin Winchester. During her last year at Signal, she was relieved to see Cardin leaving, meaning that she would finally get two years of peace. That was no longer the case after she dealt with Torchwick, at the dust shop, all those months ago.

Cardin looked to see what red and black figure was disrupting his peripheral vision. Right as Weiss turned the corner, Cardin began to speak, "Ohhh, look…it's the dyke." Ruby had been the ass-end of more than a few jokes ever since she came out of the closet a little over a year ago. Cardin, by far being the worst, never showed any signs of stopping…even when Yang threatened him. He only acted this way because his father is the chief of the Vale Police Department; it is strange that he hides behind his father's title, since, in spite of him being an asshole, he was not weak, in any sense of the word. He was surely no match for Yang, but the older sister knew that Cardin would sue and, even though Ruby and Yang's father was not poor, he probably didn't not have enough money to fight a legal battle against the VPD. That, of course, didn't stop Yang from making his life a hell from the shadows, which was always fun for the sisters to watch the conclusion of…however, Cardin seemed to find some sort of sadistic pleasure in bullying Ruby.

"Ugh, why are you being mean to Beacon's dust supplier, jerk?" Ruby asked while clenching her fists at her side.

"Because, muff diver, this crap sucks. No wonder hunters have been dying more, recently." Cardin said, earning another laugh from his cronies.

"This 'crap' is mined from the largest mines in all of Remnant, and refined by state-of-the-art dust purifiers. I don't know where you're getting the idea that it is under par, but I assure you that it is near perfection. So, if you wouldn't mind, could you leave this establishment?" Weiss said in a very sarcastic way.

"Who the fuck are you?" Russel asked from Cardin's left.

"Weiss Schnee. Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the organization which supplies Remnant with this 'crap' as your boyfriend says." Weiss stated in an uncaring tone.

After Cardin had heard what Weiss had said, he began to walk up to her. The difference in height was quite staggering; the heiress was about 5'3 and Cardin was easily over 6' and was built like a bodybuilder. "You know, I don't swing that way like little red carpet muncher over there. Luckily for you, of course." Cardin said in an unbelievably confident tone. Weiss glanced at Ruby after hearing Cardin's previous insult towards the young girl, who stood there clenching her fists, but had a look of pity on her face rather than anger. "So, what do you say? I can show you a good time…" Cardin continued.

"Get out of my face, you deplorable wretch." Weiss said in a very monotone voice.

"Wha– Listen here, bitch: don't you even speak to– " Cardin was immediately quieted by Weiss' rapier digging into his neck, slightly. He didn't expect a fight, so his aura wasn't concentration on his aura.

Though it was very slow, she kept pushing Myrtenaster deeper into his neck while she spoke. "How dare an inferior speak to me in such a tone…" Weiss stated in yet another monotone voice.

Before Weiss could continue what would be a scolding to remember, she was stopped by the younger girl standing next to her. "C'mon Weiss, we're here for the ammo. Let's just go; they were on their way out anyway." Ruby said while grabbing Weiss' arm and pulling Myrtenaster away from Cardin's neck, revealing almost a centimeter of blood on the blade.

Weiss and Ruby walked past Cardin while he was covering his neck, clearly pissed off. "Couple of cunts…" Cardin said. He then looked back at Ruby who was walking away and directed his voice toward her, "…still not as bad as the rejection you got, right Red?"

Cardin's words obviously phased Ruby quite a bit, causing her to pause for a second and hide her face. The girls continued inside and headed straight to the back of the store where the .50 caliber rounds were held. The owner saw the two girls and greeted them with a smile, "Hello ladies, if you need any help let me know."

"T-thank you, sir." Ruby said while smiling towards him, her face still hidden from Weiss. The young leader quickly found the ammo she wanted, she handed it to Weiss while still looking down and asked, "What would be the best concentration of flame dust in the gunpowder for max recoil, but minimal damage to the barrel." Ruby's tone has become very serious.

Weiss sighed and began to explain a few things about dust bullets, "You should purchase the lead rounds infused with charged electromagnetic dust. When fired, the agitated particles will push some of the air out of the path of the bullet, making it fly faster, straighter, and farther. Also, don't get the flame dust gunpowder, get the low concentration ice dust." Ruby then looked at her in confusion, wondering why she should get ice dust in her gunpowder.

It was then that Weiss noticed Ruby's slightly bloodshot eyes, she had been holding back tears. "The electromagnetic bullet is going to give you more stopping power, like you wanted. The flame dust is probably ruining your barrel even faster than normal gunpowder, since it is overheating the barrel. The initial combustion will still give your bullet the power it will need to fly from the barrel, and the ice dust will have a cooling effect on the barrel as the bullet exits the chamber." Weiss explained to her young leader.

Without a second to spare, Ruby brought a few of the materials to the counter to test out. "I'm gonna to buy these and test them in the shooting range, and if it works well, I'll stock up." Ruby said to the owner who gave her a nod. After putting on ear plugs, the two girls made their way to through the metal doors to the shooting area. Ruby sat down and began mixing the dust to Weiss' exact calculations. All that was left was to load the powder behind the bullet and load the rounds into the magazine of her gun.

"Darn." Weiss said as she felt her pockets.

"What's up?" Ruby asked while still loading the powder.

"I figured it would be a good idea to purchase myself some more dust while I'm here, but I must have dropped my wallet in the airship. I'll be right back." Weiss said as she walked out of the shooting range.

Weiss pulled out her ear plugs and placed them into her pocket, next to her wallet. She summoned a glyph under her feet and used it to rise up into the air. It took her only a few seconds to locate her target a few blocks away: Cardin. She used her glyph to quickly fly toward them and drop to the ground.

Team CRDL was currently eating subs from a sandwich shop they were at. Cardin glanced her way as she landed and spoke, "I knew you couldn't stay away from–" He was cut off by a quick slash from Myrtenaster against his chest. He had no armor on and had is aura relaxed, so it ripped right through his skin. The rest of Team CRDL got into their fighting stance before Cardin managed to get back to his feet.

Sky was the first to attack Weiss, swinging his halberd toward her. A quick glyph blocked his attack and a strike from Myrtenaster disarmed him. Cardin then made his move, along with his teammates. After dodging Dove's sword and attempting to strike Russel, Weiss looked as though she was open for an attack, which Cardin took advantage of. He swung his mace and slammed it into Weiss' back, causing her to be pushed forward. After noticing that she was open for an attack, Weiss placed a glyph onto the ground, which Cardin had stepped onto after attacking the heiress. The glyph propelled him forward, towards Weiss' back, and, with a quick swing of her elbow toward his face, Cardin fell back to the ground.

Dove and Russel looked on toward the short girl who was making them look like fools. They attacked in unison, Dove attacking the front, and Russel attempting to flank. Weiss quickly used a glyph to propel herself into the air a few meters, causing Russel and Dove to slam into one another. Weiss turned upside down in the air, using another glyph at her feet to, again, propel her at her target. Cardin was just standing up as Weiss flew past him and hit Sky with the butt of Myrtenaster, knocking him down and launching his recently acquired weapon from his hands.

She turned around and faced Cardin, pointed her rapier into the air, and, as it glowed red, formed a small glyph at its' tip. She then pointed her weapon at Cardin and fired two bolts of fire at him, which curved around his body, as he guarded himself, and hit Dove and Russel, who had just stood up. She pointed her rapier slightly behind her, toward the ground, right at Sky's face, and fired again. The three men were on the ground, groaning in pain; they were without injury since their auras were still intact, but their pride had been shattered.

Weiss walked toward Cardin who still had his mace drawn and ready. She had seen him fight in the Emerald Forest momentarily. She knew that he had a very 'tank-like' approach to fighting. "Are you quite finished?" She asked him in a mocking tone.

"Me?! You attacked us you crazy bitch!" Cardin yelled.

"Because you are an ass who needs to be taught a lesson." Weiss state very clearly.

"Fuck you!" Cardin sneered.

"I rest my case. I've seen your father giving speeches before, how did he have a hand in creating scum like you? And don't try to play off the VPD card on me, the Schnee Dust Company helps to fund and supply the police." Weiss says while walking toward him. She stops right in front of Cardin, smirks at him, causing him to lower his weapon in defeat. She then hits him in the stomach with the butt of her rapier, bringing him down to face level with her. "And you had better not ever insult her again…" She says as she points the tip of Myrtenaster at his head from under his chin. Without any hesitation, she fires and watches as he falls back onto the ground unconscious.

"Call and ambulance." She says to a few of the bystanders who were watching the fight. When he lowered his weapon, he dropped his aura as well. " _That should teach him a lesson._ " Weiss thought to herself. She didn't cause any permanent damage with the flames, but it was enough to hurt like hell. She holstered Myrtenaster and began walking back to the ammo shop where her leader was waiting. Her walk back, however, was filled with thoughts as to why she was so angry with Cardin for insulting her leader. She didn't want to think about it, but after seeing Ruby's bloodshot eyes, Weiss suddenly felt worse than she had felt in a long time. " _At the very least, I owe it to her to become acquainted with her more. After all, we'll be spending quite a while together._ " Weiss thought while walking back.

After returning into the shooting range, she was greeted with the sight of Ruby aiming her sniper rifle in its' semi-compact form. She was amazed at the accuracy her leader managed to fire her weapon with. After running out of ammo, Ruby turned around and saw Weiss watching her. "How long have you been back?" She asked.

"Just a few minutes." Weiss said as Ruby picked up the used cartridges from the ground.

"Well, I love the rounds you told me about. They're really doing great." Ruby said.

"But, of course. It's me we are talking about…I do know my dust." Weiss said in her snobby heiress tone. A tone which is easily played off as being genuine to people that don't know Weiss, but Ruby knows better.

Weiss was still looking up from her gloating when she felt herself suddenly get squeezed. She looked down to see the young leader hugging her very tightly. "Thank you!" Ruby said in a very excited tone.

After a second, Weiss succumbed to defeat and closed her arms around the young leader also. "You are welcome, I suppose." She muttered while blushing.

After breaking their embrace, the two walked back out to the front for Ruby to purchase her supplies. Weiss, in order to protect her earlier lie, bought herself more flame dust, to replace what she had used, recently. "You hungry? There's a sandwich shop a few blocks away that has great subs." Ruby asked.

Weiss immediately remembered that Team CRDL was eating subs when she attacked them and quickly put two and two together. "No. How about some ice cream?" Weiss asked

"Ohhhhh! Cookie dough ice cream! Yeah, follow me!" Ruby said as she began running toward an ice cream shop just a few buildings down. The girls went inside and began looking around. Ruby, true to her word, got cookie dough ice cream and Weiss got herself chocolate mint. The two girls sat their belongings onto the table and began to eat.

"…and thank you…" Ruby said quietly.

"You already said that, dolt." Weiss said, bringing a spoonful to her mouth.

Ruby began to speak once again, "No, thank you for not judging me about liking…"

"Girls?" Weiss cut her off. "It's not my place to judge you. Besides, it's perfectly normal." Weiss said in a soft caring tone.

Ruby slowed her eating down to a stop, causing Weiss to look at her. As she studied her leader, she saw Ruby crying. "Ruby…?" Weiss asked.

Ruby was rubbing her eyes with her free hand, as the other held her spoon for the ice cream. "T-t-the only…other p-people…who…accepted me after I-I…came out…was m-my family a-and…the girls who w-w-were…already my friends…" Ruby said in between gasps of air from her sobbing. "You're the only…p-person… I've met after t-t-the fact…who accepted me." She continued.

Weiss couldn't help it, her instinct took over and she brought Ruby in for a close hug. As Ruby cried into the crook of the heiress neck, Weiss slowly raked her hands through her leader's hair. "I'm sorry." Weiss stated.

"For what?" Ruby said in a muffled tone through Weiss' clothes.

"For being rude to you when we exited the airship. I was irritated from my own problems and thought that you were too young to understand, so I blew you off. And for that, I am sorry." Weiss explained, earning a giggle from Ruby.

"Don't apologize, I probably can't compare. I just get a few mean words thrown at me, but you've got a lotta stuff on your mind from the dust company thing." Ruby said as she backed away and rubbed a few remaining tears from her bloodshot eyes. "But, it's nice of you to care~" Ruby said right before placing a kiss on Weiss' cheek, causing the heiress head to turn very red.

"You dunce! I don't want people getting the wrong idea!" Weiss said as she covered her cheek and looked around the ice cream shop to notice a few people staring at them. Ruby only started to giggle more as she continued to eat her ice cream.

While Weiss swallowed her pride and began to eat her ice cream again, with a deep blush, Ruby's scroll buzzed. After reading the text, Ruby said, "Yang wants us to meet her and Blake at the gym."

"Well, I'm ready to go if you are." Weiss said still blushing.

"Yup~" Ruby said.

The two girls picked up their belongings, got up, threw away their trash, and began heading for the exit. As they were leaving, an elderly woman from the store spoke very softly, "Ahhh, to be young and in love…"

Weiss' face was nearly as red as Ruby's cape from the statement. Ruby stared giggling more and said, "Relax Weiss, you'll probably never see these people again!"

"Ugh. You owe me." Weiss said as she folded her arms and walked along side this giggling mess of a girl.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : I'm happy to say that I've finished all of my finals and passed them all. So, my summer has officially begun and, other than personal life, work, and video games, I'll just be writing these chapters. I'm glad you all are sticking with this story and thank you so much for reading. Please leave me a review and any suggestions on how to improve story in any way. And please enjoy the story…

* * *

"I'm telling you…let me practice swinging on your ribbon and we can kick some serious ass." Yang was explaining to her partner. "Just think about it! I grab onto your ribbon while firing Ember Celica, to build up speed, and you swing me around towards a target. We'd be like a flaming wrecking ball!" Yang nearly shouted.

"Wouldn't this take far too much time to build up enough speed to do any sort of serious damage?" Blake asked while tying the ribbon around her forearm.

"Have you seen me punch? The speed doesn't do most of the damage…these babies do!" Yang said as she held up her fists.

"So the 'flaming wrecking ball' is just for show then?" Blake mocked.

"Nah! It's for better reach and to throw the bad guys off. They won't even see it coming." Yang said as she crossed her arms and nodded her head.

"I think, for the time being, we should focus on the Hunt…It is the day after tomorrow, after all. Perhaps more systematic and coordinated fighting would be better for now." Blake explained as the airship landed at the air docks. Yang and Blake stood up and began walking toward the door. As Yang continued to explain other fighting 'techniques,' Blake heard her leader speaking from behind her.

"Hellooo~ Remnant to Weiss, come in Weiss. You okay?" Ruby asked her partner.

Blake glanced behind her slightly just in time to see Weiss stand up and walk past her partner with clear annoyance. " _I wonder what happened between those two._ " Blake thought.

"…can't tell me that some of those don't sound cool." Yang finished.

Thanks to her heightened perception, Blake, more or less, heard the gist of what Yang was talking about even while thinking about her other two teammates. "I think you need to stop watching so many movies." Blake said with slight chuckle.

"It's not like anything I said wasn't possible. Besides, we humored Ruby's stupid bow and arrow idea, in the Emerald Forest, and launched her towards a Nevermore! And it worked!" Yang said in a tone which would be much better suited for a debate rather than a friendly conversation.

"Hmm. We can practice some of your ideas when we get some free time AFTER the Hunt. Agreed?" Blake asked in the hopes of sedating her partners growing eagerness.

"Hell yeah!" Yang said as they walked closer to the first intersection after coming from the docks. Yang looked back at her sister and the Ice Queen to see a rather one-sided conversation being had. "Heya! Sis! Me and Blakey are gonna to head to that book store and then hit the gym across the street! You two stay outa' trouble, kay?" Yang yelled from a reasonable distance in front of them.

"No problem." Ruby said.

Yang and Blake crossed the street and took a right at the next intersection. "What book are you wanting to get?" Yang asked trying to spark another conversation.

"Do you actually care?" Blake asked very accusingly.

"Yeah…well…like, what kind of books are you into? I saw that 'Ninjas of Love' book…you like romance?" Yang asked trying to sound interested. Blake was right though, Yang despised books and found reading to be time-wasting exercise.

Blake immediately blushed and looked to her right to look as though she was admiring the view. That worked pretty well since they were crossing a bridge and the water looked beautiful. "Y-yeah. Romance, Adventure, Mystery. To be honest, I'll read anything so long as it catches my interest…which, admittedly, isn't that difficult to do." Blake explained to her partner.

"Any genre or plot idea that you like, in particular?" Yang asked.

"There isn't any specific genre, but I do love books in which there is an underdog who, through trial and tribulation, comes out on top. I like the idea of fighting for what you deserve and managing to obtain it." Blake stated. She knew in her own mind that she was talking about herself and her fight for Faunus rights.

"Oh, that's cool." In actuality, Yang wasn't that interested in what her partner was saying, but the amount of energy Blake was putting into her words impressed Yang. Blake usually spoke in a very non-caring tone and it was a breath of fresh air to see her speaking in such an excited tone. Besides, Yang still humors Ruby occasionally when the short girl goes on about weapons, even though Yang isn't that thrilled with them. "Do you have a favorite book?" Yang asked, deciding to continue the conversation.

Even though Blake loved 'Ninjas of Love' quite a bit, nothing has ever compared to the Shadow Children series. Not to mention, that if she said that 'Ninjas of Love' was her favorite, her teammates might ask to read it after her. Blake spoke accordingly, "I do not have a favorite book, but there is a series of books, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, known as the Shadow Children series."

As Blake began explaining the book, something which would normally piss Yang off, the brawler found herself enthralled. The book wasn't what was of much interest, but Blake's attitude was. The shadow warrior was smiling as she spoke and Yang couldn't help but gawk as her partner put every ounce of her energy into her explanation.

When the girls finally reached the bookstore, Blake decided to quickly finish up her detailed summary. She turned to see Yang staring at her, seemingly deep in thought. "Yang?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah? Oh look, we're here." Yang said as she pointed toward the store.

"Indeed. That's why I got your attention. Are you alright?" Blake asked, back to her normal demeanor.

"Yeah, I was just impressed at how much you love books. People only talk like that when something is important to 'em." Yang stated matter-of-factly.

"I suppose you're right. Anyway, I'm going to go in and look around…if you want to go ahead and go to the gym, that's fine. I'll be with you as soon as I'm finished." Blake said, already heading into the door to the store.

"Sounds good. Give Wolfy this and tell him that you're my friend...he might give you a discount." Yang said as she gave Blake a shotgun shell, specific to Ember Celica, and waved while crossing the street.

Yang saw Blake wave back and enter the store. Before Yang could turn around and enter the gym, a small shadow moving down the street caught her attention. She quickly darted her head upward and thought that she saw a girl with a white skirt in the air, but it disappeared behind a building before she could get a better look at it. She simply shrugged her shoulders and went inside the gym.

Blake was impressed at the sheer number of books residing within the store. She looked around, but saw no one at the counter. "Hello?" Blake asked aloud. She didn't hear anything and wondered if the owner might be at lunch. She pulled her scroll out and looked the time, seeing it was 10:32. " _I doubt he would be at lunch this early._ " She thought.

She clicked the lock button on her scroll, the screen went black, and she immediately saw a reflection in the screen of a man behind her. She quickly turned around only to be grabbed by the man's hand around her neck. He was very tall and muscular, so he had, seemingly, no problem picking her up.

"You shouldn't have come here. I left without a fight, and had no intention of snitching. I won't let you take this life away from me you damned sheep." The man half yelled and half whispered.

Blake made the logical connection that this man was Tukson and a quick glance to the top of his head, toward his wolf ears, proved that. "You're…mistaken…" Blake barely managed to get out. Tukson was certainly serious, since his hand was squeezing very tightly. His grunt meant that he had no intention of letting her speak with his grip, but Blake's aura managed to repel his hand enough to give her room to talk.

"Ha, yeah. I saw you working with Adam. You're White Fang, I know it." Tukson growled, and placed his hand on his gun on his waist. It was a normal firearm, so it didn't manage to intimidate Blake at all since she knew her aura would deflect it. This, however, only managed to piss off Tukson more.

"…I…was…" Blake muttered out. She didn't want to fight Tukson due to a misunderstanding. Not that he was weak; given the small space of the store and the battle experience he has, she wasn't sure she could even win on her own. "…but…not…any…more…" She grunted.

Tukson was clearly getting angry, "You expect me to believe–"

"…Yang…Xiao…Long…" Blake stated as loud as she could.

"How d'you know that name?" Tukson asked.

"…we're…partners…" Blake said as she held up her scroll with the official information of Team RWBY, proving her relationship with Yang.

Even angrier, Tukson yelled, "You think some words and a picture is enough? Listen here, girl, I'm–"

Blake held up the shotgun shell, made for Ember Celica, which quickly caught Tukson's attention. Yang makes all of her own ammunition custom, so for her to be able to get one would mean that she had to have beaten Yang and taken it…which is less believable than his current situation. He hesitantly placed Blake onto the ground and loosened his hand. "How about you prove to me you're not part of the White Fang anymore." Tukson said.

"How…so?" Blake managed to say after catching her breath.

"Give me your scroll." Tukson said quickly.

Blake simply handed her scroll over, since it was not a particularly demanding request. Tukson plugged the scroll into his own with what looked like a homemade wire. After a few beeps his face immediately softened. He unplugged Blake's scroll and handed it back.

"I am sorry for the confusion." Tukson said as he bowed his head.

"It's quite alright, I can understand your suspicion. If you don't mind my asking, what did you do to my scroll?" Blake asked as she followed Tukson, who had begun walking back to the counter.

"Adam made it a point to begin using Technological warfare, and so he embedded hacking software into many of his field agent's scrolls. Yours', however, was clean." He explained as he sat back down behind the cash register and offered Blake a seat next to his.

"I see. Do you check every Faunus' scroll when they come in?" Blake asked sarcastically.

Tukson sat there staring at her for a few seconds, deep in thought. It seemed as though he was studying her. "Do you have the time?" He finally asked.

Blake was dumbfounded. She expected some sort of life-altering question to emerge from his mouth, given how much thought he was putting into it. "It's about…10:30…" she said remembering from when she checked her scroll, earlier.

Tukson sighed with very clear disappointment and began to readjust himself in his chair.

"Is everything alright?" Blake asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry. But anyway, I believe that I owe you for what I just put you through. You're here, so you must like books, right?" Tukson asked with the first smile Blake had seen the whole time.

Blake was officially confused by the man that was sitting in front of her. She didn't know if there was a reason that he was unable to keep a consistent conversation, but she concluded that he just wanted her to leave as soon as possible and forget everything that previously happened. "Yes, I do." She answered.

"Well, I'll offer you ten free books of your choosing. Sound good?" Tukson asked.

"I certainly won't argue with you. I'll begin looking around after I ask you a question." Blake stated.

"Yes ma'am?" Tukson asked with annoyance in his face, clearly he doesn't want to talk about anything White Fang related.

"What was your reason for leaving the White Fang? Specifically?" Blake asked while glaring daggers at him.

"I despised the hierarchical rule that was imposed after Adam came to power. And besides, what good is a movement if you don't have sympathizers on both sides? That is something Adam sorely lacks. Even if his methods prove fruitful, there will be even more humans that hate us." Tukson explained. "And you?" He asked immediately after.

"He believes in Faunus supremacy. All the cargo we stole and officials we killed; it was all to weaken the Humans and strengthen us. He intends on waging a war…no, a holocaust. And I don't want superiority, I want equality." Blake said without missing a beat.

It looked as though Tukson was genuinely impressed by Blake's answer. "I'll tell you what, after you finish the Hunt, come back here and visit me. We'll talk. I'll explain…everything." He said in a very serious yet soft tone.

"Everything? What do you mean?" Blake asked but Tukson did not answer, or even acknowledge her inquiry. She glared at him for about five seconds and saw no sign of wavering and said, "Very well."

"Excellent! Now, if you need any help just give me a call, if not…I'll be here when you have all the books you want." Tukson said before pulling out a book and began reading.

Blake pushed what she heard to the back of her mind, for the time being, got up, and began walking around the store looking for any books that looked interesting. She wanted to make sure she took full advantage of this deal.

* * *

After having gathered a total of fourteen books, she walked back up to the counter to see Tukson still sitting in the same position reading his book. "Excuse me?" She whispered.

Tukson looked up and placed a bookmark in order to save his place in the book. "Yes ma'am, are you ready?" he asked. Blake nodded and began laying the books out for him. He began to scan each book and waited for them to appear on the screen in front of him. "Don't worry, like I said, ten of them will be free…I just want to scan all of them for inventory's sake." He said without looking up from his screen.

"I understand." Blake stated since she just wanted to leave the store. It would be an understatement to say that she thought he was strange. This did not go unnoticed by Tukson, however.

"Listen, I'm sorry for the way I've 'greeted' you today. Not to mention, I've been acting a little strange also. The violence, I'm sure you understand…Adam doesn't like loose ends." Tukson said while completing the order. He looked up and continued, "Everything else, well…if you come back after the Hunt, I might be able to explain."

"Why do you want me coming back AFTER the Hunt? And what do you mean everything? What are you hiding?" She asked while getting slightly angry at the lack of answers.

"I want to make sure you're ready for what I have to say. By everything, I mean EVERYTHING. And I am hiding a-fucking-lot." Tukson said with a very condescending grin. He pressed a button and the price went from 243 lien to 54 lien. "Alright, your total comes out to 54 lien, is there anything else that I can help you with?" He asked.

"A-fucking-lot." She said mockingly as she slid her debit card and paid for her books.

Tukson bagged all of her books into two plastic bags and handed them to her. "I hope to see you again, soon." He said with a smirk.

Blake walked out of the store and crossed the street, heading for the gym; she wanted that store to be a memory as soon as possible. As she entered, she was met with a very tall woman, probably about 6'8" in height. "Hello, are you here for a class or to train?" she asked.

"I was probably going to train with a friend of mine." Blake said as she looked around for her friend, whom she found in the ring with an extremely muscular man.

"Oh, you must be Yang's friend…Blake, right?" She said noticing Blake looking at the ring. "She said you'd be coming in. My name's Lizzy, by the way." She said while holding her hand out.

Blake placed her bags onto the floor and extended her hand to Lizzy's. "It's nice to meet you. And yes, my name is Blake. I am Yang's partner." She said after shaking hands.

"Yang told me about the fight you two had yesterday. It's not too often that someone is able to give Yang a run for her money. Especially when she's raging." Lizzy says while both girls watch Yang make short work of the previously unnamed muscular man. "Poor Herald…" Lizzy whispers with a chuckle.

"How is it that Yang is so familiar with this part of Vale? Yang said she went to Signal, so I assume that she lives on Patch. That's quite a distance away." Blake asked as Yang notices her and waves at her.

"Yang and Ruby's uncle has been bringing them here to train, during summer, for the past four years…well, Ruby has been training for three. The first year, she didn't meet the age requirement, so she watched her big sis fight." Lizzy said after she saw Blake wave back to Yang and turn her attention to her.

"So who taught them to fight?" Blake asked. Yang was sitting in the corner of the ring, waiting for another match. She only had three articles of clothing visible; she was wearing a golden sports bra, which has to be industrial grade since her well-endowed bosom was barely moving during her previous fight. Her hands had been taped with athletic tape and she was currently adding more tape to cover spots that had been removed in the previous fight. Adorning her legs were black athletic shorts coming all the way down to her knees.

"Their uncle taught Ruby how to fight, but, since Yang is a much more up-close-and-personal fighter, he left her physical training to me while he dealt with the aura stuff. That's why I was surprised that you held your own. She's not the best, that's why she's training at Beacon, but she has never lost to someone her own age." Lizzy explained as looked Blake up and down.

"I've had quite a bit of training, myself." Blake stated.

"Indeed. After Yang is finished, with this last fight, I want to see you two spar. I need to see for myself the Blake she has been gloating about." Lizzy said.

"She's been gloating?" Blake asked as she face-palmed.

"Oh yeah. She loves people who can fight. And she's taken a particular interest in you…and I want to see what all the fuss is." Lizzy said while crossing her arms. Yang just stood up and was moving toward the middle of the ring, putting her mouth piece in. Once she got to the middle, she was staring up toward a tall man who was rather skinny, given his height. They pounded their knuckles together and readied themselves for a fight.

The bell rang and Yang was the first to throw a punch, which was blocked by the other man, who then threw a kick towards Yang's side. Yang grabbed his leg and pulled back, knocking the man on his back. She let go of his leg and fell onto him with her elbow, which dug into his stomach. The bell rang again, then the man quickly left the arena.

"Although, what I really want is for you to keep helping her get stronger. She's at the point where everyone here she can beat in the matter of seconds…or minutes if she's having a bad day." Lizzy said as Yang took out her mouth piece and raised her fists in victory.

"What, specifically, did she say about me?" Blake asked as she looked back at Lizzy.

"I think her exact words were 'She basically killed me. If it were a real fight, she would have gotten away with a broken leg and I'd have bled to death.' or something along those lines. Take the way she acts with a grain of salt. She knows she's not perfect, and she admires how you can be so pretty, strong, AND smart." Lizzy said.

Blake glanced over toward her teammate, who was stepping out of the ring and running towards her. "Well, a spar won't tell you much. I needed my semblance to fight her the first time. She's still strong without hers." Blake said before teammate made it to her.

"Heya! What'd ya think?" Yang asked as she stopped right in front of the two.

"Was there ever a chance of anyone winning?" Lizzy asked. "Of course you kicked ass." She said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but I want your opinion of my fighting stance and speed." Yang said.

"Both have improved, but you need to stay focused. I don't know what caught your eye, but Jordan shouldn't have been able to block your first punch." Lizzy said in a mocking scold.

"I was just having a bit of fun." Yang explained.

"Well, I have a class to teach in about twenty minutes, so I have to get everything ready. You two don't destroy anything…and by 'you two' I mean YOU." Lizzy said as she glared daggers at Yang.

"No promises." Yang said with a huge grin before Lizzy began walking away.

"Holy shit, how much did all that cost?" Yang said, looking at the bags of books at Blake's feet.

"54 lien." Blake said picking up the bags.

"Wow. I didn't expect him to give you that big of a discount." Yang said. "C'mon, you can put those in my locker." She stated as she began leading Blake toward the back.

"What kind of training did you want to do?" Blake asked as she entered through a door that Yang was holding open.

"Locker's last one on the right. Combination is 19-25-07. And I was thinking of some aura endurance training…aura is something you can never have too much of." Yang said while standing in the doorway. "Oh, and you can use some of my workout clothes in there…they're clean." Yang offered.

"I doubt I could fit into one of your sports bras, but I have my own. I will borrow your shorts, however." Blake said very flatly as she began stripping down to her underwear. It was then that Yang noticed Blake was already wearing her sports bra.

"Do you always were a sports bra?" Yang asked.

"Yes, it provides quite a bit support." Blake answered as she placed her clothes and heels inside of Yang's locker and puts on her other pair of black athletic shorts. "Anyway, I'm ready if you are." Blake said after making sure her books were securely within the locker, before closing it.

"Yep. We're going to go to the bottom floor. They have an old-school simulator down there." Yang said.

"Old school?" Blake asked as she relocked the locker.

"Yeah…it's like Beacon's, but the simulation can't hurt you. They're just a bunch of holograms." Yang explained.

"That's good. I want to make sure we're fully healed for the Hunt. Speaking of which, do you think we should ask Ruby and Weiss to join us. This might provide an excellent teamwork exercise also." Blake said.

"Yeah! That's a great idea! I'll text Ruby right now." Yang said right as she pulled out her scroll. "Alright, they should be here in like ten–" Yang said as she was looking up only to see Blake adjusting her breasts to better accommodate the rapid movement she will soon be enduring. "…minutes." Yang finished.

"Everything alright?" Blake asked.

"Yeah. Just got a little light-headed." Yang lied. "But I'm fine, so don't worry." She said. Yang had gotten very excited when she saw Blake enter the gym. She did her best to make sure that she looked 'cool' while fighting. Yang didn't need to deny anything, she admired Blake a lot. " _She's hot, smart, and she kicks ass. What's not to like?_ " Yang thought.

It was never a secret that Yang swung both ways, though she hadn't known Blake long enough for her to know that. Yang loved being the flirtatious tease that she was, and watching both men and women squirm when she was with them was a guilty pleasure of hers. Since Blake didn't know however, Yang settled for being…well…Yang when she was around her. If she can solicit any sort of sexual reaction from Blake, then Yang would try to get more intimate; If not, then she would move on to her next target. " _If she's not into that, then I'll move on._ " Yang thought, completely ignoring the immense pain she felt when she thought of 'moving on.'


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : I'm sorry that this chapter was a bit later than my usual upload time, but I had a few issues with my computer. The good news: everything was fixed for only about $150! The bad news: it just got fixed this evening so I wanted to quickly get out a chapter. I'm sorry this was shorter than what I usually upload, but I will be back on schedule this week. I figured this was a good time to begin incorperating a bit of canon (specifically the fight scene) into my story in order to portray Team RWBY's increasing teamwork abilities. I liked this fight in RWBY because it shows how well the girls can work together when they are united in a common goal. Leave me any reviews you deem necessary and please let me know if you approve or disapprove of canon cameos like this. I'm glad to see that I'm consistently getting new readers; it makes me happy to know that this story is interesting enough for people to spend their valuable time reading. Thank you all so much for your time and, as always, enjoy the show.

* * *

The basement of the gym was rather large, about 20 meters tall, and about 50 meters in length and width. Easily, it went underneath the buildings around the gym as well as under the gym itself. The simulation room itself, was an empty room with wires and hologram projectors running through the walls, floor, and ceiling. Team RWBY wanted a random simulation, in hopes of getting a real challenge. When the activation sequence began, the entire room changed; pillars began to appear out of the ground, large portions of the room began to move into the shape of the field it was processing, and finally the holograms activated changing the room to truly look as though they were somewhere else.

It looked as though they were on a highway bridge with cars zooming past them. Of course, the cars would just phase right through them, but, as a penalty, any time the simulator was able to successfully 'injure' one of the girls (by any means), their available aura would be artifically 'damaged' by the machine...in order to emulate a real battle. Even though it looked as though they were outside, the walls and cieling of the simulation room were colored a slight red color by the simulator, in order to prevent them from running into anything solid. The second the buzzer sounded, the girls quickly put in their ear pieces, connected to their scrolls, and jumped their into fighting positions.

"Mmmkay...where's the fight at?" Yang said after about ten seconds of waiting and dodging the occasional car.

Ruby looked around and noticed the were standing on a bridge quite high up. "Is it under the-"

Ruby was slienced by the sound of metal crashing against the concrete of the bridge. The girls all looked forward and saw the source: a large mech running towards them, knocking cars out of the way as it ran.

"Oh. There is is. Remember, the simulation uses gravity dust to protect your body, but also uses it to mimic the force of attacks!" Yang said as all four of them readied themselves for the attack that was coming. Sure enough, when the mech reached them, it slammed its right arm into the ground. All of Team RWBY jumped out of the way, going their seperate ways as the mech began searching for them.

Blake was the first to send out an attack from the highway exit sign she had landed on. She jumped from the sign, threw Gambol toward the mech embedding it into its' torso and pulled her self toward it. Just as the mech threw a punch toward the flying Blake, she used her shadow clone and jumped up dodging the attack and giving her an opening to attack the machine's head. Shroud came down with a thunderous boom, but the machine managed to move out of the way slightly causing Blake's attack to hit a few of the wires and mechanical joints connecting the left arm to the torso. The mech used its' right arm to punch Blake, causing the gravity dust to knock her away from it a few meters. "Blake, I'm in position!" Weiss said over the earpiece causing Blake to jump away from the mech, taking Gambol Shroud with her, and landing behind it under another sign.

The mech noticed her soon after, and ran toward her, getting ready for an attack. As the machine approached her, Weiss jumped from the sign and landed in between the two. Without even a second to spare, Weiss impaled Mytenaster into the ground, making a cascade of ice cover the concrete. The mech took one step onto the ice and immediately slipped, tumbling off the bridge and landing on the ground below where Ruby and Yang were waiting. Blake and Weiss landed next to their teammates soon after.

As the mech began walking toward the girls, Ruby took her position as leader and yelled, "Freezer burn!" Ruby and Blake jumped out of the way to give room to the Hot-Head and Ice Queen duo. Again, Weiss impaled Mytenaster into the ground, makeing ice appear, only this time Yang had jumped into the air, aimed her fist downward, and launched her self right in front of Weiss. As her fist made contanct with the ground, an icy fog covered the imediate vicinity.

The fog not only alowed for a great cover, it also made the laser motion detectors on the mech visible. As the mech began looking around and firing on anything that moved, Ruby quickly put herself into position. The mech saw Blake and Yang running toward each other and fired a plasma round toward them, causing both girls to be knocked back by the simulation's gravity dust that was used for most simulated explosions. Ruby took advantage of the confusion and launched herself toward the mech, slicing at its armor, and cutting the front steel plate clean off.

"Checkmate" Ruby yelled followed by Blake and Weiss jetting forward and simultaneously giving the mech a flurry of slashes and stabs knoacking off pieces of its armor and cutting wires. At this point, there was a slightly noticable lag in the mech's movements, but it was no less difficult to keep away from. Weiss, seeing the armor moving away from one of the front motion senors, attacks it and manages to stab right through it. Weiss jumps away from the machine, which momentarily goes into a slight frenzy, swinging its' arms and stomping its' legs. Blake, with Gambol embedded into the mech's torso, notices the mech raise its' foot above her head. Knowing Blake cannot react in time, Weiss uses a gravity glyph to propel Blake backward.

As the mech regained its' controls, it fired a barage of missiles toward Blake and Weiss, whom barely had time to dodge. As the girls are busy backflipping and jumping away from the missiles, the mech calculates where the girls will land and fires two plasma rounds toward their landing spot. Blake manages to dodge, but Weiss, still being in the air, gets hit and is sent flying back by the simulation. Before she hits the ground, Weiss sends a time glyph toward Blake, causing her to percieve and take actions at a faster rate while witin the glyph. As more of the missiles begin to approach Blake, she makes short work of them by generating her aura through her weapons and causing a slash-like effect of energy to blast forward from them, slicing the missiles in half.

"Ladybug!" Ruby yells as she flies forward toward the mech, passing Blake. She sliced at the legs of the mech, causing some of the armor to fall from them. She fires her rifle behind her, launching herself back toward the mech at the same time Blake jumps into the fight. Both girls begin attacking the mech's legs slicing through armor and joints. The mech aims both arms at the girls and fires a plasma round at each of them. Ruby and Blake both jump into the air, dodging the attack, and lanch themselves toward the mech. Seeing that the left arm is still very damaged from Blake's earliest attack, the girls aim there. The come down like a guillotine 's blade, completely severing the mech's left arm.

As the mech followed its' severed arm rolling on the gorund, Yang took the time to jump into the air and grab onto the mechs head while hanging off of it's back. She lifted the mech's head up slightly, with her left arm, revealing the inner circuitry of the machine. She quickly began firing Ember Celica's with her right arm into the mech's inner workings. The mech jumped backward, slamming its' back through a few holographic pillars and smacking into a final one. The gravity dust protected Yang from any damage, but the simulation was brutal on her aura level. She was momentarily in shock from the amount of aura that was damaged. The mech turned around and readied it's remaining arm for another attack. With a swift move, the mech punched Yang through the final holographic pillar. Yang slowly slid to a stop on the ground as her other three teammates looked on in horror.

"Yang!" Blake yelled.

"Don't worry. Remember, with each hit she gets stronger and she uses that energy to fight back. That's what makes her special." Ruby said.

The mech immediately attempted to send another punch towards Yang, but it was caught with ease by the blonde brawler. With a loud warcry, Yang punched the mech's other arm causing it to fly into a thousand pieces. The mech, quickly regaining its' composure, sends a kick into Yang's torso sending her flying back.

As she flew past Blake and Ruby, the young leader yelled, "Bumblebee!"

Without even thinking, Blake threw Gambol back towards Yang, who quickly caught it and began running back towars the fight, but staying far enough away to still keep the ribbon attached to Gambol tense. Yang begins to fire Ember Celica behind her to pick up speed as she heads straight for the mech, who narrowly dodges the attack by jumping backward.

"We have to slow it down..." Ruby said.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Weiss asked.

"Ice Flower!" Ruby States as she embeds the blade of her sythe into the ground while aiming toward the mech. Weiss then proceeds to cast a series of glyphs in front of the barrel of Ruby's weapon. The reaper begins to fire her weapon and, as the bullets travel throough the glyphs, they become imbued with ice. As the bullets make contact with the mech, the air around the shockwave immediately freezes causing the mech to remain almost still.

With one final swing of Gambol and a few blasts from Ember Celica, Yang is traveling at full speed toward the mech. With one final puch to the upper torso, the entire suit of metal is destroyed and sent flying into all directions. Just as quickly as everything lit up, the entire room was quickly deconverted back into it's original form.

* * *

"I so fucking told you that it would be cool!" Yang said as the girls walked into one of the newer restaurants in Vale, 'Köstlich.' It was sort of a 'Jack or all Trades' restaurant in terms of cooking.

"Yes. I heard you the first time." Blake said with a bland tone.

"She's never going to let it go. After all, you actually humored her insane idea." Weiss said as motioned for the host to get them a booth, which the host immediately did after noticing who he was dealing with.

After finishing their training, the girls went to the locker room and managed to get a shower in before heading out. It wasn't until they left that they noticed it was almost 5:00pm. They had made the decision to grab something to eat before heading back to Beacon.

"Here are your seats, ladies." The host said as the girls sat down and waited for their menus, which the host quickly provided them with. "May I go ahead a gather your drink orders?" He asked.

"I'll have a glass of water, thank you." Weiss said.

"Yes ma'am." The waiter said as he turned his head to each of the girls one by one.

"Sweet tea!" Ruby said playfully.

"I'll have a Dr. Pepper, bro." Yang said as she looked through her menu.

"I will also have a glass of water." Blake said.

"Thank you very much. I'll notify your waiter right away." The host said as he left.

"Oh! And get me some mozzarella sticks!" Yang shouted as the host turned his head and nodded.

"So. What's our plans for tomorrow?" Yang asked as all the girls looked through their menus.

"I think it would serve us well to let our bodies fully rest. I think we should examine the competition." Weiss stated as she placed her meu down.

"Why? We don't have to fight them." Ruby wondered.

"Yet." Yang said with a grin on her face.

"Indeed. They will, at one point, be our enemies." Blake said as she also closed her menu. "And besides, if we learn what the other teams are planning, we can plan something even better." Blake stated right as the waiter brought the girls their drinks and Yang's Mozzarella sticks.

"Would you ladies like more time on deciding what you would like to eat?" The waiter asked.

"Yeah." Ruby said.

"Alright. I will be back momentarily." The host said as he walked away.

"I didn't think you were so willing to spy on others, Blake." Weiss said as she sipped her water.

"I've had a lot of practice." Blake said as she purposely made a strange face towards Ruby, causing the other two girls to look at the young leader pouring more sugar into her already sweet tea.

"Sweet enoug, Rubes?" Yang asked.

"Not until she's sure she will get diabetes, evidently." Weiss said sarcastically.

"I like sweet things! Why do people always complain?" Ruby asked in the most innocent way.

"Because we don't want you so ruin your health!" Weiss said quickly.

"Already bickering like an old married couple, eh?" Yang asked as she inhaled more of the fried cheese sticks.

"Alright ladies, have you made your decisions?" The waiter asked, before Weiss could make an argument against Yang's comment.

"Ugh. Yes. I will have the chicken alfedo pasta with a side of garlic toased bread." Weiss said.

The waiter quickly wrote down the order and turned his head to the young leader who had just put down her menu. "And you ma'am?" He asked.

"I'll get the chicken strips and fries. Oh, and can I get some potato soup with it?" Ruby said.

"Yes ma'am." the waiter said meekly.

"Ribeye cooked well-done. Some mixed vegi's. And a loaded baked potato." Yang said.

"And I'll have the grilled swordfish, baked scallops and a plate of onion rings." Blake stated, adding the onion rings at the very end.

"Is that all i can get you ladies right now?" the waiter asked.

"Yeah, I think were good." Yang said as she gathered all of the menus and handed them to the waiter.

"I'll have your food done as soon as possible." The waiter said as he scurried away.

"So, we'll spy on the competition tomorrow?" Yang asked.

"We'll split up to scout everyone out. Then we'll get back together tomorrow evening to share our information." Blake said.

"That sounds good to me." Weiss said while crossing her arms.

"Alright. Now about the training today. What can we do to...well, do better?" Yang asked. The girls spent the next few hours eating and going over battle strategy for the upcoming day. The Hunt was quickly crawling upon them and the stress was starting to reach the girls' minds. They were determined, however, to make sure they were prepared.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : I do believe it's time for some plot development. We're going to get into the meat of the story soon and I can actually focus entirely on plot, then. Right now, I'm basically setting up the time in which I will allow for some major character development. Please leave me a quick review and let me know what you think. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.

* * *

The girls of Team RWBY had spent the majority of their Thursday morning scouting the arena in which the Hunt was going to be held, as well as their competition. They were together at the arena, perfecting the plans that they spoke about during dinner the evening prior…but decided to split up when they left to scope out the other students. While the Hunt was primarily designed to test the real-world battle prowess of students, it was no secret that it was just as much of a talent show. How you presented yourself in the Hunt was a major factor in how everyone, both student and faculty, saw you. It affected scholarship acceptance, student-mission qualifications, and even some level of social status.

Yang made the decision to go and to the gym and 'train' in order to remain hidden in plain sight from her fellow students. Weiss chose to spend her time gathering information on many of the more noteworthy students…which is not particularly difficult since Hunters, and those in training, have their records placed in the public sphere. Ruby, being the weapon-nut that she is, figured she should take note of the weapons being used by many of the stronger students. Blake, however, elected a much more difficult target to eavesdrop upon: Ozpin. She figured that if there was going to be any information worth holding onto, it would come from him.

So she did. She followed him since she split from her teammates at about 1:00pm that morning. It was already 4:48pm and other than going to the cafeteria to obtain his meals, he had done nothing but work on his computer all day. A few meetings had occurred, but nothing more than trivial issues such as changing the prices of items sold in the vending machines or changing the colors of some of the dorms.

" _No wonder this man is capable of staying so calm all of the time…he had little-to-no excitement within his life._ " Blake thought as she adjusted herself on one of the structural frames interlacing throughout the ceiling of the Headmaster's office. His office was large and open, with only his desk and filing cabinets sitting close to the large array of windows. Other than that, there was a series of bookcases on the other side of the room, next to the elevator with the staircase on the other side of it against the same wall. In the very middle of the bookcases, there was a counter with a mini-fridge, a coffeemaker, a microwave, and a sink. This area was the only spot of wall which was not a window since it was where the medical spire erected itself, for the dust-infused oxygen.

"Yes, hello?" Ozpin said, which startled Blake until she noticed that he was speaking into his cellphone. "I see; thank you for your hard word. We've only a mere 15 hours-or-so until we begin." He continued.

" _15 hours? That must be the Hunt. I believe it starts at 8:00am tomorrow and it's almost 5:00pm right now._ " Blake pondered.

"No, I'm quite busy at the moment. Please send the software to me via E-Mail…I will look them over tonight. And what of our shipments?" Ozpin asked.

" _He oversees code for the simulation? I wish I knew how to read software code…I'm sure there would be some vital information in there._ " Blake thought, before being interrupted by the Headmaster's continuing conversation.

"I see. They retreated? I'm just glad to hear that everyone is alright. Are we sure it was them?" Ozpin said in a very caring tone.

It didn't take long for Blake to piece together what happened. A shipment and he asked if people are alright, their shipment was probably attacked…there's only one group that 'them' could be. " _The White Fang._ " Blake thought with genuine disgust.

"I understand. No, there is no need for that, I will ask her myself. Is there anything else?" Ozpin asked as he walked over to his coffeemaker. "Alright. Thank you again, Glynda. Goodbye." Ozpin said.

" _Why the hell would the White Fang attack a cargo ship en route to one of the major Hunting schools? Surely they must realize that such a foolish move would be a suicide mission._ " Blake wondered, forgetting about her current target.

"May we speak?"

" _Perhaps they could, under normal circumstances, successfully defeat a Hunter's cargo ship, though I've never heard it happen. He was speaking to Glynda, so maybe they didn't succeed solely because she was there._ " Blake's mind was going into overdrive.

"Excuse me?"

Blake's thoughts were imagining every possible scenario, " _Or they managed to get aboard and grab what they needed since Ozpin said they retreated and not that they were defeated. What could be so important that–_ "

"Miss Belladonna?" Ozpin interrupted Blake's thoughts.

Blake was dumbfounded as she looked down and saw Headmaster Ozpin holding two cups of coffee and staring right at her with the kindest smile. She took no time working her way down from the structural supports of the ceiling and next to Ozpin. He handed her a cup of coffee and motioned for her to sit in front of his desk. She did, just as Ozpin walked to the other side of his desk and sat down in his chair. Before any words were exchanged, the Headmaster slid a small bowl of sugar cubes and a spoon toward Blake, who began to add them to her coffee and stirred.

"How long have you known I was here?" Blake asked after taking a sip of her coffee.

"You arrived at 1:17pm." Ozpin said as he began to put sugar into his own coffee.

"So, you put me through all of this boredom on purpose?" Blake asked with a chuckle.

"Well, if I have to endure, so should someone else." Ozpin said before letting out a small laugh.

"Indeed. So, what did you want to ask me?" Blake asked.

"Before I explain that phone call, may I ask why you chose to stalk me?" Ozpin wondered.

"I simply wanted to see if I could obtain any information that would aid my team in the Hunt." Blake stated.

"Even though the Hunt generally has no rules regarding how you obtain a victory, I am sure the admins would not take kindly to this course of action…unless, of course, you looking to impress our Black Ops division." Ozpin said with a grin.

"To be fair, I didn't have any intention of being caught." Blake explained sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm sure. Now, to the matter at hand." Ozpin said with a very serious tone at the end, causing Blake to place her coffee in her lap and give her undivided attention to her Headmaster. "Though your transcripts and official information looked rather legitimate, I have…people…who look into the students who apply here. Put simply, I know these are fake." Ozpin said as he pulled out a file from his desk that read 'Belladonna, Blake' at the top.

After about 10 seconds of Blake wildly thinking of excuses (Though her outer appearance would depict otherwise), she concluded that there was no way out of this scenario. "What happens now?" Blake asked.

"Well, that depends on you." Ozpin said, making his tone lighter than it was previously and taking a sip of his coffee. "I need to know the truth." He continued as he opened his laptop.

"There's no way out of this, is there?" Blake asked as she took another sip.

"No, ma'am." Ozpin said with a heartfelt smile. He then placed his coffee on the desk and placed both of his hands onto the keyboard. He was getting ready to take notes.

"I'm a Faunus." Blake said.

"Obviously." Ozpin responded with a sigh.

"Yes, sir." She said sarcastically. "I am a terrorist." Blake said quickly and without hesitation.

Without missing a beat, Headmaster Ozpin typed something very quickly. Blake was utterly surprised at how Ozpin showed no signs of surprise. While she looked at him dumbfounded, he glanced up to her slightly.

"I'm serious." Blake said.

"And…?" Ozpin asked while motioning for Blake to continue.

" _Does he not believe me…or not care?_ " Blake wonders while sighing. "I've been a part of the White Fang since I could first remember. Until I left a few months ago." She said.

"Is that why your skills are so well perfected?" Ozpin asked.

"I wouldn't say perfect, or else I wouldn't be here. But yes, they're the ones who taught me…well, one person specifically." She explained.

"Who?" The Headmaster asked while taking a sip of his coffee.

"Taurus…Adam Taurus." Blake said, clearly humiliated and remorseful.

That name sparked Ozpin's interest quite a bit. "He took over the White Fang about five years ago, right?"

"Yes, though I've known him for much longer. When he came to power, he began portioning large amounts of money into arms and armor. Even before he took over, I remember him occasionally leaving during the night to kill or steal. Of course, I didn't know that back then." Blake stated.

"So, you have always been close to him and he began to train you when he rose up. Why did the White Fang, a once peaceful organization, so quickly fall to the level of terrorism?" Ozpin asked.

"Because it was working. Many were opposed to the idea of violence, but after those same people saw the fearful respect the White Fang was receiving, they joined in or left." Blake explained before taking another sip of her coffee.

"Why did you leave?" He asked.

Blake looked up with determination in her eyes. "Because I'm not some fool who sees fear as a reasonable instrument for changing opinions. I want to be respected as an equal without forcing that ideology onto others!" Blake slightly yelled.

"That sounds like youthful optimism." Ozpin said.

"What?! How can you say that?! Is it wrong for me to fight for equality without violence?" Blake asked in a panic.

"Nearly eighty years ago, a war was fought simply for the right of self-expression." Ozpin retorted.

"That was necessary! Those in power declared art, books, theater…everything was deemed sinful!"

"How naïve…" Ozpin said taking another sip of his coffee.

Blake slammed her hands onto the table, causing the laptop to bounce slightly, and stood up, bending over the desk to look at Ozpin face-level. "I refuse to believe that Humanity is so inherently and hopelessly evil that they would not come to see pain that has been caused! And likewise, the Faunus are not so ignorant and aggressive that we won't realize how counterproductive this violence is! I believe in both species! I believe in Remnant!"

"That…is the correct answer." Ozpin said while placing his coffee on the desk and continuing to type.

"Huh?" Blake wondered aloud.

"I needed your honest-to-Remnant stance on the White Fang. We have been having an increase in the amount of attacks on our cargo since students first began arriving for admission. So, we concluded one of the students was working with them from the inside. I've known your documents were fake from the beginning, so you, among others, immediately became suspects." Ozpin explained.

"Why would you tell me? Where do we stand?" Blake asked.

"I don't believe you're a spy." Ozpin stated, finishing his typing.

"That's very trusting of you…believing what could easily be a story." Blake stated matter-of-factly.

"There you go again…not giving yourself any credit." the Headmaster said with a grin.

"I'm sorry?" Blake wondered.

"Your obviously ashamed of showing that much passion, for your stance on the subject, since the last time you showed passion on that scale, it was for the White Fang…who you ultimately feel betrayed you. Like earlier, also, when you put yourself down after I complimented your fighting skills, since you're disgusted by who taught you." Ozpin said with an unwavering stare towards Blake.

He hit the nail on the head and Blake knew it. There was nothing she could say, so she stayed silent and let him continue.

"Besides, after we find students who are an anomaly, we look into their backgrounds very thoroughly. And everything you just said matches perfectly with the information my people have gathered on you…so I know you are telling the truth." Ozpin explained.

"What was the point of this then?" Blake asked.

"I've already told you: to decide if you were our spy. And since you're not…" Ozpin turned his laptop around to allow Blake to see what he had been typing. It was the template for the students' transcripts which had been cleverly filled out, for Blake, describing her life before Beacon, without explicitly stating where she has been trained.

" _Prior training: Family assisted. Prior education: Home school. Financial status: Scholarship approved._ " Blake said, in her head, a few of the things on the screen. "What…is this?" She asked.

"Your new transcript." Ozpin said as he printed it out and replaced her old, fake one with the newly printed one. He then proceeded to place her fake transcript in a paper-blazer, watching fire dust destroy it on contact.

"You're going to let me stay? Why?" Blake asked dumbfounded as she fell back to her seat.

"Because your talented, honest, and your heart is in the right place. All I need of you, is a favor." Ozpin said as he took another sip of his coffee.

"What would that be?" Blake wondered.

A deep voice came from behind Blake, "We need you to momentarily side yourself with the White Fang, again."

Blake turned around and her eyes went wide at the sight before her. A tall man was standing next to a pillar, arms crossed over his chest. His hair was slightly messy, there were a few cuts and scuffs, and spots of blood littered his clothes; there was no mistaking that this person had been in a relatively recent fight. The clothes, however, left no mistake as to who he was. A mask, grey cargo pants, a black leather jacket; Blake was just a few meters away from the Knight-General himself. " _He…needs my help?_ " Blake thought. "Yes…sir?"

"One of our cargo ships was attacked by the White Fang, but Sir Donovan drove them away before they got anything." Ozpin began to explained as Blake turned her head back to the Headmaster. "The strange thing is that it was not a secret that the Knight-General would be aboard, since I gave him this public mission a few days ago. There is no mistake that the White Fang knew he was there, but chose to attack anyway. Whatever they wanted must be incredibly important to them and I want to know what it is." Ozpin stated.

"So I have to…side with the White Fang?" Blake wondered.

"Momentarily." Sir Donovan said from Blake's right, causing her to jerk her head back to her side in amazement that he was able to get that close to her without her noticing. NO ONE sneaks up on Blake…or so she thought. "I captured a few of these delinquents, but they are refusing to cooperate. I want to put you in handcuffs and have you sit with them in order to obtain more information out of them. Would you be opposed to this?" The Knight-General asked.

"No sir. I could help you…assuming none of them remember me. I only left a few months ago." Blake explained in her most courteous attitude.

"Indeed. Alright, if you're finished here, then I would like to go ahead and take you to them." Sir Donovan stated.

"Yes, I'm all finished here." Ozpin said while standing up and picking up the two coffee mugs from the desk. "Oh, and welcome to Beacon…again." Ozpin said with a genuine smile on his face.

"Thank you, sir." Blake said before bowing her head. Blake then turned around and faced Sir Donovan.

"Please follow me." He said. Blake simply nodded and began to walk behind him.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : We're getting there…just a few more days until the Hunt. The Hunt is the major part of this arc, and then we'll be able to move on to more plot-tastic things. Feel free to leave a review, I'm always on the prowl for more and I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Being distracted by her own thoughts, Blake was surprised at how quickly that they reached the Vale Police Department northern precinct, just about a mile from Forever Fall. She, and Knight-General Donovan, stepped off of the VPD airship onto the roof of the police station. In the distance, one could see one of the many military stations which were kept close to locations with a high level of Grimm activity.

As the two made their way down to the first floor of the building, the Vale Police Chief immediately recognized the Knight-General. "Sir. We received your message, but…" the Police Chief glanced toward Blake, "…are you sure she can be trusted?" he asked.

"Yes. We have no reason to presume that Miss Belladonna has had any contact with the White Fang." Sir Donovan said without even a hint of hesitation. Blake couldn't figure out if he was honestly that trusting, or if he was just confident that he could still defeat the White Fang even if Blake was feeding them information.

"Yes, sir…but I'm sure you understand our concern, given that she is a confirmed terrorist." the chief said.

"Was." Sir Donovan said while pulling his scroll out of his pocket to read and respond to a text.

"Yes…sir. If I may ask, what has she done to prove that she can be trusted?" the Police Chief asked.

"She provided us with vital intelligence which ultimately lead to the successful destruction of 'Goro,' a hideout belonging to the White Fang." He said without missing a beat. "Now, if you don't' mind, I would like to ascertain more intel from our new guests." He said with a kind, but sarcastic tone.

"Yes, sir. I apologize. Please follow me." the Police Chief said as he began walking down one of the halls.

Before they begin to follow him Blake glances toward Sir Donovan and silently says, "I never gave any information about the White Fang. Since I was so young, I was still on a need-to-know basis."

The Knight-General looks toward her and smiles kindly. "Well…if they ask, your intel saved the entire commercial district of Vale." he said sarcastically.

"Is that right? Where's my key to the city, then?" Blake asked with a chuckle as the two begin to walk toward the Police Chief who glanced behind him at them.

"We're working on it." Sir Donovan said with a laugh. "But, in the meantime, let's focus on the task at hand. We're going to put handcuffs on you and throw you into the interrogation room with those other three. While in front of the criminals, expect to be treated as a criminal yourself. We have someone in there right now, who has been informed beforehand, about your arrival. First and foremost, earn their trust by remaining steadfastly resistant to anything the interrogator says to you. The interrogator will purposely be just as condescending to you as he has been with the others, but you must pretend to be highly protective of the supposed intel he will claim you have." The Knight-General said.

"Don't worry about that; I have much experience remaining calm while being spoken down to." Blake said matter-of-factly.

"Of that, I have no doubt." He said. "After the interrogator has decided that his questioning is getting him nowhere, he will request to have all four of you brought back to your cells. That is where your job will begin." Sir Donovan stated as they caught up to the Police Chief, waiting at an elevator.

"This elevator will take you to the lower levels. I would like to accompany you, but I have to be back to the residential district for a meeting. I wish you the best of luck Miss Belladonna." The Police Chief said before sliding his I.D. over a card reader, rendering the elevator operational, and walking away.

"I am not sure if I will be able to get any information, but I will do my best." Blake said as she walked onto the elevator.

"That's all I'm asking for. Thank you very much Miss Belladonna." Sir Donovan said before pressing a button labeled 'C.'

"You don't have to thank me; I am honored to help the Knights…though my team leader, Ruby, would be even happier to be helping you." Blake said with a slight blush. "And, of course, if I can get any information that will help save people, that would be great." She continued as the elevator began to move.

"By the way, you will also need to remove the ribbon from your head." He said.

"Oh! Of course. I've gotten so used to it, I often forget it is there." Blake said while removing her ribbon, revealing her ears.

"Cat, eh? Why do you choose to hide your faunus traits?" Sir Donovan asked.

"I would rather people judge me on my character, rather than my species." Blake simply replied, not hiding her dissatisfaction with answering a question she has answered countless times before.

"Commendable…but, counterproductive." The Knight-General said.

"I'm sorry?" Blake asked, having never heard someone take the time to argue her answer.

"By hiding your faunus traits, you are indirectly stating to the world that you wish for them to see you as human. So when these same people judge based on your character, they do so under the assumption that you are human. Don't you want to change their opinions of the faunus? That's not going to happen if you hide your faunus nature." The Knight-General said as the elevator opened again.

"I…suppose I have never thought of that." Blake said as she began following him.

"Does your team even know that you're a faunus?" Sir Donovan said.

Blake only looked at her feet as she walked.

"I see. Do you honestly think that they would treat you differently if they knew?" he asked.

"No. I highly doubt it." Blake said.

"Well, just think about what I've said…" Sir Donovan said. "…after all, it's the least you can do." He continued with a much happier tone.

"Least I can do for what?" Blake asked.

They arrived to the interrogation room and saw three police officers, watching the live recording of what was going on in the room, through the glass part of the door. "For destroying my yard." The Knight-General said with a smug smirk before opening the door.

"Welcome General and…" one of the officers started.

"Blake Belladonna" The Knight-General said since Blake was still slightly surprised that Sir Donovan knew they were training in his yard.

"Miss Belladonna, we appreciate your help." The officer finished.

"It's no problem at all." Blake said, finally snapping out of it.

"Here, we're going to need you to change into…their attire. There's a bathroom three doors down the hall, on the right." A faunus officer, with black ears on his head, said as he handed her a White Fang uniform. "I would have done all of this myself, but I was on duty earlier this morning when they were brought in." he said in an apologetic tone.

"It's alright. Honestly, I should have begun assisting you all when I first left the White Fang…but…" Blake began.

"You were raised by them…it's understandable that you would have a desire to not see them hurt." The final officer, who is presumably the sergeant of the three, said.

Blake said nothing and simply left the room to walk to the bathroom. The Knight-General was looking at the weapons that were confiscated from the White Fang, noticing that they were not the typical weapons that they have usually had. It has been nearly twenty years since the four kingdoms upgraded their military's weapons en masse, from a lead bullet propelled by a gunpowder charge, to their current antimatter accelerated energy rifles.

The White Fang, being a terrorist organization, cannot remain financially stable enough to obtain these newer models of rifles. Because of this, the White Fang had been using the older lead-firing weapons. However, the weapons confiscated from these criminals were, in fact, modern, and well-kept, energy rifles. "Have you been able to trace these weapons back to a specific manufacturer?" Sir Donovan asked.

"No; but more importantly, these weapons aren't just missing their serial numbers, they were never given serial numbers." The sergeant said.

"So, we have a firearms manufacturer that is making weapons explicitly to sell to the White Fang for an extra profit…or a firearm manufacturing sympathizer who is giving them weapons." The Knight-General stated right as Blake walked back into the room.

"Well, let's waste no time." The sergeant said as he pulled out his handcuffs and began walking toward Blake. "And, if you feel that you have obtained enough information, or there's something that you think you should tell us immediately, complain that you want to take a shower, that'll be our code phrase. Officer Dorian is a bat faunus…so, with his hearing, he will definitely hear you though the door." The sergeant said with a smug grin.

While waiting for the officers to get everything set up, Blake looked at the camera and was relieved that she didn't recognize any of the faunus being interrogated. She might just have a chance of pulling this off. Of the three that were captured, two were men and one was a woman. They were each wearing their typical White Fang attire: a white, sleeveless jacket with a black undershirt and dark gray pants; they were only missing the Grimm masks that they were notorious for wearing.

The woman was a dog faunus who had brown, shoulder length hair, brown eyes, and had a habit of showing her fangs. She had a very athletic frame and was probably about Weiss' height. Both of the men were quite muscular but one was about Yang's height while the other was easily over six feet tall. The shorter man was a deer faunus with blue eyes and a bald head. The tall man was probably a goat faunus, since he had horns protruding from his head curling into a spiral; he was bald on the sides of his head, but had a Mohawk about two inches tall.

"Alright, remember to get on their good side…act like a different person if you have to. I assume the Knight-General has already informed you of the plan we have devised, correct?" Officer Dorian asked.

"Yes." Blake said as she attempted to adjust her arms to be more comfortable, to no avail.

"Okay, then let's head on in." Officer Dorian said.

They walked over to the door and opened it, which caused the three White Fang members and the interrogator to look up. The room was just large enough for table to be placed in the center and for two of the criminals to sit across from the interrogator. The last White Fang member, the taller man, was sitting next to his cohorts but off to the right side of the table. "Look what we found on the ship! A stowaway in the cargo department…" Officer Dorian said as he pulled a chair out from the outside of the door, of the interrogation room, and brought it in for Blake to sit down to the left of the terrorists. "Sit." He demanded.

Blake jerked her arm away from Officer Dorian and slumped down in the chair. "Can I get you a cup of coffee?" he asked.

"Go to Hell…damn traitor." Blake said, showing her fangs.

"Traitor?" the bat faunus asked.

"You turned you back on your own species." Blake stated.

"Because I don't believe in supremacy?" Dorian said, playing along extremely well.

"NO! It's about demanding our rights, you pussy sycophant!" Blake yelled then turned her head to the interrogator. "Are we just going to sit here? Get on with it." Blake said.

"Damn lunatic." Officer Dorian said as he opened the door to walk out.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is James. May I ask yours?" the interrogator asked in the politest tone.

"Yu." Blake said, completely uninterested.

"Yu? That sounds like a surname. What is your first name?" James asked.

"Fuk." Blake stated in an equally uninterested tone. That caused the woman sitting to her immediate right to laugh, the shorter man to snicker, and the taller man to gain a large smile.

"Fuk Yu?" James asked with an annoyed grin.

"Is there something wrong?" Blake asked.

"No. Listen, we both want the same thing here." James began.

"I doubt that…" the dog faunus mumbled.

"No, seriously. I want the faunus to be treated with equality. But if you keep acting this way, you'll never get the support you need to make any real difference." James said.

"Because we choose to be strong and resilient in the face of dominance!" Blake explained.

James states his retort, "No, if you would simply–"

"We 'act this way' in order to demand the respect we deserve!" Blake continues to yell.

Seeing where Blake is headed, James follows right along in a more annoyed tone, "Listen! We can only work this–"

"It's your species that keeps treating us like animals!" Blake growled.

"Well then, stop acting like a bunch of goddamn animals!" James yelled.

"WE ARE NOT ANIMALS YOU RACIST FUCK!" The dog faunus yelled out.

James sighs, presses a button, and speaks, "Can we please take them back to their cells." All three of the officers proceed to enter the room and take each of the White Fang members and carry them out, followed by Blake, who was taken by James. Blake was the last in the line to be carried out of the room, so when everyone else had exited the door to the hallway, Sir Donovan gave a thumbs up to Blake.

* * *

It was about 5:45pm when Blake and the Knight-General arrived at the Police station and nearly an hour since they had been thrown into their cells, though most of the talk had been small talk and getting to know each other. Blake managed to become something of a celebrity among the three White Fang members, since she was talking about her many escapades with their intrepid leader, Adam. Blake had no problem lying in order to stay undercover, but at the moment, she didn't have to lie, making it all that much easier to earn their trust.

Blake had learned that the dog faunus' name was Sofia and that she had been a member of the White Fang since her birth, much like Blake. Though, the indoctrination had been much more powerful in Sofia's regard. The shorter man's name was Antonio and the taller man's was Mikail. The only thing of note about the two of them was that Mikail was mute, so Blake didn't bother prying too deep into his story.

"Which outpost are you guys from?" Blake asked.

"Luna. Aren't you? I thought the only people taking part in this raid were from Luna base." Sofia said.

"True. But Adam thought it would be beneficial to send to me along on a high-priority mission with you guys, to 'see how it's done' as he put it. I'm 17, so…" Blake explained.

"…so you've got your initiation coming up and you needed some independent experience. Well, I'm sorry our mission didn't quite go according to plan." Antonio said.

"Not point dwelling on it. Why, though, did you still choose to attack even while knowing that the Knight-General would be aboard? I didn't get a lot of time to read the briefing, but from what I did read, I would have drastically overhauled the plan after finding out he would be on the airship." Blake explained in as detailed, yet vague, manner as she possibly could.

"Well…there was really no other option…" Sofia started.

"I've probably not been on as many missions as you three, but there aren't many things out there that the White Fang is so desperate that they would willingly fight the Knights head-on." Blake said in a concerned tone.

"That's what I can't figure out either…all they wanted was this silly box of syringes and preservatives. Who cares how expensive they are; why did they need them?" Antonio asks to no one in particular.

"Well, from the research I've done, they're state-of-the-art. Something about being 'impossible to contaminate' I think." Blake said, talking out of her ass, mostly. She didn't know about any syringes, but the preservatives were most likely the new formula that the Union of Hunters, a coalition formed between the four hunting academies of Remnant (Beacon Academy, Haven Academy, Shade Academy, and Atlas Academy) had recently developed. " _Normal DNA uses citrate-phosphate-dextrose-adenine (CPDA) to preserve it without freezing…which would only last for about a month, at most. However, the Union of Hunters managed to merge time dust within the nucleus of the atoms of CPDA. Though I don't know the specifics, I do know that now the tissue and blood samples can be preserved for hundreds of years and, more importantly, without contamination._ " Blake thought to herself, wondering what the White Fang's employer would need with tissue samples.

"Why won't they tell us what they need it for…it just pisses me off." Blake said.

"No kidding. A friend of mine asked the pretty boy about it and he just said, 'Because our boss is into blood-play.' What a fucking creep." Sofia said with a scoff.

"Pretty boy?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, the criminal all over the news…Roman. He's got the hair covering half his face, ridiculously long eyelashes, and wears that silly hat." Sofia said with a chuckle.

"Don't forget the cane-gun." Antonio said with a laugh.

"Oh, I know who you're talking about." Blake said with a smile. " _I think that is the same guy that Ruby had a run-in with when someone tried to rob her in that dust store._ " Blake thought as she attempted to put what few pieces she had together.

"I wonder who the big boss is? I don't know about you guys, but I haven't seen or heard anything about them at all." Blake said.

"Same. I don't think anyone except for Adam, and his lieutenants, get to speak with them." Antonio said.

"Speaking of which, why is this new boss so impatient? I'm sure these 'new syringes,' or whatever, will be in every lab soon. Why did we need to get our asses handed to us by a Knight when we could have just waited and robbed a bunch of eggheads in a year or two?" Sofia asked aloud.

"Well, Roman is a human. Maybe the new boss is, too, and they don't care what happens to us." Blake said.

"Yeah, maybe. But would Adam just sell us out like that?" Sofia asked.

"Look at the new weapons they got us: antimatter rifles, airships, and mechs? Adam probably saw it as too good of an opportunity for our movement to pass up." Antonio interjected.

"I agree. We'll be a much more formidable force now." Blake said. " _Great. Now they have mechs and airships, too._ " She thought looking at the clock and seeing that it was almost 7:00pm. " _Yang is probably worried about me. Ruby too. Weiss…probably doesn't care. We did say that we would meet up in the cafeteria at 8:00pm. I should probably be getting back soon._ " Blake thought with a grin.

"Ugh. First I had to run my way through Forever Fall to get here, which took like four hours. Then I had to sneak onto the airship, which I managed to do by hiding in the trash. And then I had to fight a bunch of asshole security officers before getting tackled to the ground…needless to say, I just want a shower and a bed." Blake said as she laid her body back until she was laying on the ground.

"I heard that! I would do anything for a bit of relaxation. Those two meatheads never clean themselves." Sofia said.

"I'll have you know–" Antonio started to say but was silenced by the door opening.

"Alright bitch…you think that's funny?" Officer Dorian asked in a very pissed manner.

"I wouldn't have done it otherwise." Blake said.

"Some of them were innocent cargo workers!" Officer Dorian said.

"What happened?" Sofia asked.

"I slipped an open bag of ricin into the air vents of the ship. When the air turned on, it poisoned the whole ship." Blake said with a smile.

"That's fucking badass!" Antonio said.

"You're fucking sadistic!" Officer Dorian said as he opened up the cell and grabbed Blake by the arm. "We'll let the Knight-General deal with you." He said as he carried her out and relocked the cell.

After exiting the cell-hallway, Officer Dorian turned and began laughing as he unlocked Blake's handcuffs. "You know, you're one-of-a-kind." He said.

"None of this was particularly new to me. Had I stayed in the White Fang, I probably would have ended up in covert ops, or something." Blake said with a grin.

"Well, everyone is waiting for you in the conference room." Officer Dorian said.

It only took a few minutes to reach the conference room. The room was decorated in a very old Victorian style with a large, rectangular, glass table in the middle of the room. There were ten seats on each side of the table and one seat at each of the two ends. The Knight-General and Headmaster Ozpin were speaking with the Police Chief when they walked in, While Glynda Goodwitch sat two seats down on the left side of the table, reading a book and drinking a coffee. "That was quick." Ozpin said with a smile after pouring a cup of coffee.

"They were just grunts, though I did obtain as much as I could…you might it find useful." Blake said.

"Very well. Officer Dorian, that will be all." The Chief said after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yes sir." Officer Dorian said before walking out.

"Now…Let's sit and discuss this further." The Chief said as he sat down at one end of the table farthest from the door. Ozpin followed suit by sitting at one of the ten seats to the Chief's immediate right, right next to Glynda. The Knight-General, however, made his way to the coffee maker and poured two extra cups. He walked over to Blake, who stood next to the seat opposite of Ozpin, and sat a cup in front of her along with a carton of cream and a bowl of sugar in the middle of the four. Sir Donovan then made his way to Glynda's right, who had put her book away, and sat down.

"First and foremost, they were after the new preservatives that the Union of Hunters have just recently developed." Blake said as she generously added cream to her coffee and began to add sugar. Blake, being the only one to sit in front the four adults, was the only person to see Sir Donovan's eyes go wide when he heard preservatives, though she didn't know why.

"That's all? I'll admit it's a wonderful discovery, but not worth that much, monetarily." Glynda said, drinking her coffee black, just like Ozpin.

"Those three don't know why they were tasked with getting it, but it's not actually the White Fang who is interested. Apparently, Adam sold out in order to obtain better weaponry. Adam might be in charge of the White Fang, but there is someone else calling the big shots." Blake explained before taking a sip of her coffee.

"So that's how they got the new energy rifles. I wonder how much power this person has in order to arm an entire terrorist organization." Sir Donovan wondered aloud, mixing milk and sugar into his beverage. Again, Blake noticed the Knight-General deep in thought and not really paying attention.

"A lot. Especially since the firearms are only the start. They also told me that this new boss has given them, not only rifles, but airships and mechs as well." Blake continued.

"Damn! This is quickly evolving into a breach of national security." The Chief said.

"Indeed. Did they give you any information on this new boss?" Ozpin asked.

"Nothing about the boss…but apparently Roman Torchwick is this new boss' right-hand-man." Blake said before looking to Glynda. "Didn't you help Ruby when she fought with him during the summer?" Blake asked.

"Yes. And I remember there being a woman in an airship giving Roman orders. Perhaps she is the mastermind here?" Glynda said.

"I suppose it would be too much to ask if you remember her face?" the Chief asked.

"I'm sorry; it was at night and she was in an airship." Glynda said.

"It's quite alright, Glynda. We'll figure this out one step at a time." Ozpin said. "Is there anything else?" He asked after looking back to Blake.

"Well…I think that this new boss might be getting a bit impatient. She still wanted this attack to go through knowing that the Knight-General would be there, despite there probably being many more, safer, opportunities down the line." Blake said.

"Dammit." Sir Donovan mumbled.

"General?" the Chief asked.

"It's nothing. This is just making me quite angry, to be honest." Sir Donovan said.

"Other than that, all I know is that they were from Luna base. It's located under a series of warehouses in the industrial district, which has a ton of warehouses." Blake said.

"I'll be sure to have some of our Hunters scout the area out." Ozpin stated.

"Well, we know what's happening, now. However, we'll definitely need more proof, than a young woman's recollection, to prove that this kingdom needs to begin taking the White Fang seriously." The Chief said.

"What about two identically matching recollections?" Blake asked.

"Are you suggesting we try this again?" the Chief asked.

"No. Officer Dorian is a bat faunus, so I'm sure he heard everything that we were talking about in there. Ask him about it and I'm sure you'll get the same answers." Blake said.

"Alright. Well, I appreciate your help Miss Belladonna." The Chief said as he extended his hand for Blake to shake, which she did. "I need to write up a report on everything that I've heard…I hope all of you have a wonderful night." The Chief said before pouring out the rest of his coffee and walking out.

"How dare he pour out a perfectly good mug of coffee." Ozpin said sarcastically, getting a chuckle from the Knight-General.

"I do believe that we have held you here long enough, Blake. I'm sure you want to get back to Beacon and get some rest…you'll need it for tomorrow." Sir Donovan said.

"Yes. But, we have all been training very hard, I think we're ready." Blake said after finishing her coffee. She then stood up, placed her coffee mug next the Chief's, and made her way to the door, but stopped before exiting. "When my teammates and I meet up tonight, we were going to tell each other about everything we found out today. Should I keep all of this hidden?" Blake asked.

"There is no need to sow the seeds of mistrust within your team. You can tell them about the events which transpired today." Ozpin said.

"Yes, sir." Blake said.

"And your clothes are sitting on the nightstand to your right." Glynda said. "You can just give what your wearing to the receptionist on your way out." She continued.

"Yes, ma'am." Blake said.

"And don't forget what I spoke to you about earlier, Blake." Sir Donovan said, causing Blake to look at him. "Good luck during the Hunt." He said before giving Blake a warm smile.

"Thank you, sir." She said as she walked out.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Blake managed to make it back to Beacon at around 8:15pm. " _Good, I won't be too late._ " She thought as she walked through the doors of the cafeteria. Team RWBY, and occasionally JNPR, had established their own spot to sit in the cafeteria: in the middle and towards the right-most side of the room. Immediately, her partner could be seen flagging her down from their table.

"Hey Blakey, I already got you a tray. Grilled fish, mixed veggies, water, and a slice of pie." Yang said as Blake made her way to sit down.

"Thank you, Yang. How was everyone's day?" Blake asked.

"There aren't many students that we should be particularly concerned about, but I have found a few who've received special training that we should pay attention to." Weiss said as she continued to eat.

"Yeah, most of the people around here do take this shit seriously. All I saw at the gyms I went to was poor form and weak attacks…with a few exceptions." Yang stated matter-of-factly.

"All of the weapons are really cool and unique, though…but if what they said is true, our classmates probably can't use them very well." Ruby said in between bites of food.

"Well, Ozpin gave me precisely zero intel." Blake said.

"Told ya he was a lost cause. I bet he caught you sneaking around, too." Yang said,

"Yes, he did. We sat and spoke for a while, and eventually he told me that he needed a favor from me." Blake explained.

"What did he need?" Weiss asked.

"Do you mind if we wait until we get back to our dorm before I explain?" Blake asked, only stirring her teammates curiosity even more. She knew that Sir Donovan was right about trusting her teammates, but this was still something she wanted to keep between her and those that she trusted.

"Kay. Then, for now, I just wanna make sure you guys are still cool with setting the arena to a sixteen?" Yang asked.

"Didn't we already decide to do so?" Weiss wondered.

"Yeah, but I just remembered what Headmaster Ozpin said a few days ago…about how hard a sixteen is and the fact that we'll be expelled if we lose." Yang explained. The girls looked around towards each other in thought. "See? Not such an easy decision with all that on the line." she stated.

Blake thought for a moment and asked, "If we don't choose sixteen, what level–"

"We can do it." Ruby interrupted.

"You sound confident…" Yang said with a mocking grin.

"C'mon guys. We beat a Nevermore and got one of the highest scores during the initiation! We can kick its butt." Ruby asserted.

Weiss looked at her partner and responded, "I suppose. Our team is quite unique…I mean look what we have! Ruby, a Grim Reaper, who can ironically also heal us with her semblance. Yang, who is basically the Hulk."

"Hey!?" Yang half yelled.

Weiss continued, "Blake, our mysterious spy that fights like she has a license to kill. And–"

"An Ice Queen that can kill any mood and drown all fun." Yang said, earning a chuckle from her sister and partner, and a glare from Weiss. "…but who is also extremely well-trained and collected." Yang finished.

"That's right! Yang is like the tank, Weiss is the mage, Blake is DPS, and I'm the healer!" Ruby said.

"Careful sis, you're geeking out again." Yang mocked.

"I happen to like MMORPG's…there's nothing to be ashamed of, Ruby." Blake said.

"I was only messing with her." Yang explained.

"Yang was always more of the action kind of person…she never had the patience for an MMO." Ruby stated.

"As interesting as this is…are we in agreement about the level we are choosing for the hunt?" Weiss asked in an uncaring tone.

"I think so. We'll need to make sure we get a good night's sleep." Blake said.

"If you guys are done eating, then we can head back." Yang said.

All four of the girls stood up and took their trays to the trashcan, emptied them, and placed them on the counter for them to be cleaned. As they made their way back, there was just a bit of small talk, but mostly a lot of planning on how their tactics will play out. Soon enough, they happened upon their room and made their way inside. By the time Blake had managed to get her shoes and socks off, she realized all of her teammates were staring at her.

"You guys are really that desperate to know what happened?" Blake asked with a grin.

"Duh. Ozpin asked you for a favor…I want to know what you did for him." Yang asked from her bed, behind Blake, who was still looking at Ruby and Weiss, who had elected to both sit on Weiss' bed. "…or what you did for him…" Yang said again, this time in a very seductive tone.

Blake jumped as soon as Yang had said that since Yang had crawled on her bed and said that into her right ear, causing a tingle to go up her spine. Ruby's face was as red as her cape, but Weiss simply played along, "When I said you were a spy, I didn't think you'd go that far the get intel for us."

"I hate all of you." Blake said with her typical monotone voice.

"Awwwww. No you don't, sweetheart." Yang said in a mocking tone as she hugged Blake's waist from behind. Blake didn't budge. " _Damnit. Still nothing._ " Yang thought.

"Seriously guys, I will explain what happened…but I also have something very important to tell you. Can we not screw around right now?" Blake asked, causing all of her teammates to immediately come to their senses.

"Alright, shoot." Yang said.

"Okay, you already know I was stalking Ozpin. I thought I had been out of sight until he got a phone call and mentioned me in it." Blake said.

"Do you know what the phone call was about." Weiss asked.

"It was about a cargo ship, en route to beacon, that was attacked by the White Fang. Fortunately, the Knight-General was aboard and easily defended the ship. Apparently, that was the mission we saw him leave for, a few days ago." Blake continued.

"That seems like a really low-priority mission for the leader of the Knights." Weiss said.

"Ozpin knew that the ship was going to get attacked, because of all of the radio-chatter his informants picked up, so he publically hired the most powerful person he could think of. Probably so he could see just how important the cargo was to them…obviously very important, since they went on and attacked anyway, in spite of the Knight-General being aboard." Blake stated.

"What did they want? And I still don't see why Ozpin mentioned you in that call…" Yang said.

"They wanted the new preservatives that the Union of Hunters recently developed. And…" Blake started. Her teammates could see that she was obviously having a hard time preparing herself for what she had to say.

"I've been lying to you all." Blake said.

"I'm sure you had good reason." Yang said.

"No actually…" Blake said with a half laugh, half sigh.

"You can tell us Blake, we're your friends." Ruby said with a genuinely kind tone.

"I'm a faunus who…" Blake started, but needed a moment to continue.

"That's all?" Weiss said, almost sounding like her time was wasted.

"No, no…no. I'm a faunus who used to…" Blake began as she put her hand on top of her head and removed her ribbon. "I used to be a part of the White Fang." She said, not daring to look up. Her teammates only stared at her left cat ear, where the White Fang's tattoo remained. Most active members would mark one of the faunus traits with three claw marks, which often helped them identify each other.

"Well, you left sooo…it's okay." Yang said.

"No, it's not! Don't you dare say that! I stole! I lied and cheated! I killed so many people…" Blake eyes began tearing up as she named corporations that she had stolen from and killed important members of. "There's so much blood on my hands…" she said as tears began to roll down her face.

Yang almost instinctively stretched her arm around her, and pulled her in for a tight side hug. "So what?" she said as she held her partner.

Blake was dumbfounded, "What do you mean? I killed–"

"People that used slave labor. Who wronged your entire species and gladly profits from it?" Weiss stated.

Blake began to scold herself, "I shouldn't have killed them, maybe–"

"This ain't some fairytale where some protests would have solved that. They had it coming." Yang said as she comforted her friend by rubbing her shoulder.

"Yeah, all throughout history, slavery is almost never ended without a war." Ruby said.

"That's why I left, though. Because I was tired of all the murder. Surely…is it possible to have peace without a war?" Blake asked.

"Now? Yes. Because our generation is so much more connected than we ever had been before. Ever noticed that the majority of humans protesting illegal faunus labor are in their twenties and younger?" Weiss explained. "However, the White Fang doesn't seem to notice that. They've begun killing indiscriminately and must be stopped." She finished.

"Yeah. The old White fang were the good guys, but now they're not…and you were smart enough to see that." Yang said.

"So now, we'll defeat the White Fang and ensure faunus equality." Ruby said with her usual smile.

"How so?" Blake asked with bloodshot eyes.

"Because of me, of course." Weiss said. "When I inherit the Schnee fortune, I have always had every intention of righting all of the wrongs that my father did to the faunus. I will funnel money into welfare programs and education to ensure that it never happens again. That, however, won't happen if the White Fang continues to be responsible for us losing large portions of our company's wealth." She finished.

"So in the end, I was right. The White Fang will be its own undoing." Blake said.

"Probably, but we'll make sure we undo it faster." Yang said with a smirk as she pulled Blake in for a tight hug.

"Anyway, we obviously don't care about your past, so please continue." Weiss said.

"Right." Blake said as she rubbed her eyes one last time. "After Ozpin got off the phone, he called me down from my hiding spot and began to talk to me. He already knew I was a faunus and about my…past. He started asking me questions and, eventually, he started insulting me, but for good reason." She continued.

"A good reason to insult someone?" Ruby asked.

"He said that he needed to make sure what I was saying was genuine, but the only way to do that was to anger me to the point where I was yelling my beliefs at him." Blake said with a chuckle.

"After he determined I was being truthful, he showed me that he had refilled a custom transcript for me, since the one I had submitted was almost entirely a lie. Because of that, I can stay." Blake said.

"Ozpin's so fucking cool, like that." Yang said, still comforting Blake.

Blake continued with her story, "Anyway…the favor that he wanted, was for me to obtain information from a few of the White Fang members that had been captured from during their raid. The Knight-General was the one who explained most of it to me. Next we–"

"YOU MET THE KNIGHT-GENERAL!?" Ruby almost yelled. "Was he cool? What did he say? How did he act? Did he have his weapon? Was he wearing his armor? Did you guys get to talk? What did he look like?" Ruby's barrage of questions caught almost everyone off guard.

Blake couldn't help but laugh at Ruby's excitement. Blake thought for a second and began answering Ruby's questions one by one, "Umm…Yes. Mostly stuff about the White Fang. Normal. Yes. Yes. Yes. And…" Blake stopped at her last question and thought for a second. She did see his face, Blake remembered him smiling and talking, but his actual face she couldn't remember. "I…don't remember what he looked like…" Blake answered.

"No one ever does." Weiss said. "My father has spoken with the Knight-General more than once, and, on every occasion, no one remembers his face. It even gets wiped from our security cameras." Weiss explained.

"I wonder what kind of semblance he is using." Yang wondered.

"Doesn't matter! That's so cool!" Ruby said.

"Kay, chill Rubes. Let Blake finish." Yang said.

"Um, we headed to the police station precinct in the north, and talked about what I was going to do. Basically, I just dressed up as a White Fang member, and got on their good side." Blake said.

"What intel did you get?" Weiss asked.

"Not much, they weren't very high ranking. I found out they were after the preservatives, that there's a new employer for the White Fang, what base the raid came from…that's about it." Blake said.

"I wonder what use they could have for preservatives? What tissue samples could they possibly want to keep?" Weiss wondered.

"Ugh. They must've discovered my weakness: biology class." Yang said.

Ruby jokingly continued, "…and English class, math class, history class…"

"Yeah, thanks. We get it Ruby." Yang said with a sigh.

"Basically anything besides P.E." Weiss finished.

"You're so funny. Did anything else happen Blake?" Yang asked.

"No. After I informed Sir Donovan, Ozpin, Glynda, and the Vale Police Chief, they let me go." Blake said.

"Sounds like you've had a day." Ruby said.

"Indeed. But all I want right now is to get some sleep and beat the Hunt tomorrow…So I suppose it's a good thing I got this off my chest." Blake said standing up, much to Yang's dismay.

"Yep. Team RWBY needs to be well-rested and ready for tomorrow!" Ruby said as she changed into her pajamas behind a flurry of rose petals.

Weiss said nothing, but simply grabbed her nightgown and started for the bathroom. Yang just stripped off all of her clothes besides her boy shorts and a tank top before jumping up to her bed. Blake gathered he pajamas and sat them on her bed and opened her book while waiting for Weiss to exit the bathroom. " _I'm sure tomorrow will be…interesting._ " They all thought.

* * *

" _All dressed? Yep. Ember Celica? Hell yeah. Ammo? Check. Sexy badass? Fuckin' A._ " Yang thought as she went through her mental checklist.

" _Fully dressed, I just need…there's my ribbon. Gambol Shroud? Of course. Ammunition? Fully loaded. I'm ready._ " Blake thought as she began to tie her ribbon over her ears.

" _No wrinkles? Indeed. Tiara? Beautiful. Myrtenaster? Perfect. Dust? Yes, I'm ready._ " Weiss thought as she loaded Myrtenaster.

" _Cloak? Yup. Ammo? Duh. My baby? Amaaaazing. I'm so excited!_ " Ruby thought as she tightened the laces on her boots.

"Okay, are you guys all ready to kick some simulated butt?" Ruby asked.

"Do I even need to answer?" Weiss mocked.

"Sis, who the hell do you think I am?" Yang added.

"A hothead who's almost guaranteed to end up in the hospital by the end of the day. Don't take this too lightly." Blake said.

"She's right. We can talk all we want, but a level sixteen Hunt is obviously going to be one of the largest challenges we have ever faced." Weiss agreed.

"Oh, I know. But there's a reason Rubes was put in charge…she's a great strategist." Yang stated a Blake smiled and Weiss rolled her eyes with a grin.

"Oh, stop it guys." Ruby said blushing as the four opened the door and began down the hall.

"No offense, but you certainly don't give off the vibe as someone who is a tactical genius, and yet…" Weiss trailed off.

"Makes sense though…Blake was professionally trained, and us two have primarily offensive semblances. Ruby didn't have the luxury of a mentor, has more of a support semblance, AND is younger than everyone else here. She needs something to keep her ahead of the game…and that's where her badass battlefield tactics come in to play." Yang said with praise.

"Let's just hope your academic scores are up to that par. Because WHEN we win, we will be an official Beacon team. That means that the grades we each receive will affect our overall standing. I'm not too worried about Blake or myself, but you two…" Weiss stated with her chin up.

"Well, if I start slacking, you can help me." Ruby said.

"Ha. Please…it's a dog eat dog world out there; you're on your own." Weiss said with a glare.

"And the Ice Princess just went subzero on us." Yang said with a laugh.

"C'mon Weiss, you're really smart…and I'm not the best at math, unfortunately." Ruby murmured.

"Ugh. Only with math, though. I'd better not lose any sleep because of you." Weiss stated.

"Oh…she's feisty. You won't get any sleep~" Yang said with a seductive purr.

"Yang, stoooooop!" Ruby said as she clenched her fists. Weiss only stood there with a slight blush.

"Aww…that wasn't the reaction I wanted from you, Ice Princess." Yang said as she crossed her arms behind her head. "What? Did she already tell ya?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm aware of her disposition." Weiss said nonchalantly.

"Her disposition?" Blake wondered aloud.

Ruby began mumbling with her head tilted down, "Well…uh, I Kinda…uh… I–"

"She only fucks girls!" Yang said in a yelling whisper.

"Oh my God, YANG!" Ruby almost screamed.

"Don't worry Ice Princess, you'll hear your name plenty of times~" Yang said seductively.

"I'd hate to break up the love fest, but we're almost there." Blake said, much to Ruby's thankfulness.

"Oh well, I can tease her when we go back to our dorms later." Yang said, re-crossing her arms behind her head.

It was 9:45am and the girls had just made it to the arena. There were many seats occupying the area around the arena. There were roughly 50,000 seats, since this arena was used for events other than just the Hunt. The seats, however, were still packed. The first few front rows were reserved for Beacon staff and the students participating. Team RWBY immediately identified Team JNPR among the chaos, thanks to Nora's obnoxious hand waving.

"Hello!" Pyrrha said gleefully.

"Hey guys! You ready?" Ruby asked.

"Heck yeah! This will be awesome!" Nora yelled.

"We've been training quite a bit for this." Ren said.

"So have we. You guys decided on what level you were gonna fight at."

"We've all decided on lucky number thirteen." Jaune stated.

"What level? Like a game?" Nora asked.

"Did you not receive the E-Mail from Headmaster Ozpin?" Ren asked.

"Uhhhh…Sure I did." Nora said with a chuckle.

"The level we choose will be the difficulty setting of our Hunt. The highest is sixteen and we can't choose anything lower than twelve, so we decided on thirteen." Ren explained with a sigh.

"What?! No, no, no, no. We need to do a sixteen." Nora said.

"Dunno who in their right mind would do that." Jaune said.

"That would be us. Heh." Ruby said.

"Are you seriously going to fight a level sixteen simulation?" Pyrrha asked.

"Fuckin' A." Yang said without missing a beat.

"Godspeed." Pyrrha said with a smile.

"May I have your attention, students?" A voice said as everyone turned their immediate attention to the stage. Glynda was standing in front of the microphone with Ozpin not far behind her sipping from his iconic coffee mug. "Before we begin, Headmaster Ozpin would like to say a few words." She said before moving out of the way and Ozpin stepping up the microphone.

"I will not take up much of your time. I would like to simply congratulate everyone on having made it this far. The Emerald Forest initiation was not designed to be easy, and yet here you stand." Ozpin said as he looked out to the crowd. "However, we only have 480 guaranteed spots open for placement within our school. That, of course, is assuming you receive a professor as an administrator; if someone, outside of this academy, of sufficient credentials, takes you under their wing, you may circumvent this number. Truthfully though, only about a quarter of you will remain by dusk. That does not mean you are not worthy, but rather, not ready. I would hope that you will continue your service to the people of Remnant, as we have for ages, regardless of today's outcome." He said before clearing his throat.

"Never get tired of hearing this guy talk, huh?" Yang whispered sarcastically, causing a few laughs from the two teams.

"Before we begin, a few announcements: First, we have upgraded the CPU of our arena's Enhanced Emulation Drive; any level above and including ten will be significantly different from previous years. So I apologize for anyone who spent these last few days researching previous Hunts, rather than training." Ozpin said with a grin, earning a few laughs. "Second, do not worry about stray projectiles, of any kind, getting out of hand. This arena is equipped with an XRC9000 antimatter regulator and a Schnee Electronics Dust Condenser." Ozpin said, gaining more than a few astonishments from the crowd.

"Geeks." Yang whispered in a monotone voice.

"What? That is top of the line equipment!" Weiss whispered back.

"Heh. Geek." Yang whispered nonchalantly as she rested her head in her left palm before looking back up at Ozpin, who was about to continue.

"In laymen's terms, the battle area of the arena is encased with a shield generator that can withstand up to five megatons of energy…so please do not hold back. And lastly, we have a very special guest viewing the Hunt today. Please give a warm welcome to Knight-General Lionel Donovan." Ozpin said as he looked to his left, with everyone in the arena following his field of vision, to see Sir Donovan sitting within the first row. All that could be heard for a few minutes were cheers and praises as he stood and waved to everyone.

He was wearing a traditional Knights Formal Uniform. The jacket was black and the pants were white with black dress shoes. The pants had only a gold stripe running down the sides, his jacket, however, was adorned with dozens of medals and patches for his service within the Knights…as well as a few honorary awards from each of the four kingdoms. There were gold pads atop each of the shoulders, giving the impression of a broad (or in his case, even more broad) physique. The gold pad on the right shoulder had two golden tassels which hung down, connected from the front to the back; both tassels hung under his arm. On his head he wore a black beret with the Knights insignia upon it. But, of course, he still wore his mask.

"Now, now, settle down. He is here to spectate this wonderful event like the rest of you. Please continue, Headmaster." Glynda said before backing up again.

"Thank you, Glynda. As for the rules, we will follow tournament standards: If a student's aura drops into the red, the match will end. If a student is otherwise unconscious, the match will end. If a student surrenders, the match will end. You will be asked to sign your name stating that you understand these rules upon entering the arena. That is all; there are no other restrictions, so I wish you all the best of luck." Ozpin said as everyone clapped. Ozpin then pulled out his scroll and began to wait. The moment his scroll clicked and said 10:00, he stated, "May the 77th Hunt Begin."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : First and foremost, I would like to apologize to any german readers since I probably butchered your language in this chapter. Other than that, I'm glad to finally be getting into the good stuff. Please enjoy!

* * *

"That had to have hurt! Team SSSN may have won the fight, but there's no denying how close that match was." Professor Port said over the intercom to the rest of the stadium.

"Indeed. However lucky it might have been, they still succeeded. I know that Professor Lilith has had her eyes on them for a while, so I have no doubt that they will become even better." Professor Oobleck to the arena.

"We will have a 20-minute break at this time. Please take this time to refill refreshments and relieve your bladders. The next fight will be a doozy! One of our best freshman teams: Team RWBY! So be back on time; you won't want to miss this!" Professor Port said.

"Oh, man. I'm so fucking stoked!" Yang said from their locker room under the bleachers.

"I'm pretty excited, also. I hope we do well." Blake said as they each looked over their weapons one last time.

"I'm sure we'll be fine, even though we are going against one of the most difficult battle simulations in–okay, bad choice of words." Ruby said.

"No, you're right. I know we've done a lot of amazing things, but we can't pretend that this will be easy." Weiss said.

"Exactly! We have to make sure we win, because if we don't then we'll never get an administrator and our futures will–okay, I should just stop talking…" Ruby said, obviously very worried.

Yang turned to look at her sister, "There's no need to worry, Rubes! I'm sure we'll–"

"No! There is a reason to be worried. If we fail, no one will want us. They'll just see us a bunch of kids who bit off more than they could chew." Ruby said, gaining an uncommon sense of maturity.

"That's why we're choosing the hardest difficulty. So long as we do really well, then people will still want to train us. We'll just have to reapply next year…I mean, it wouldn't be the first time that an admin waited a year for students that they had an interest in." Yang explained.

"Yeah…like dad." Ruby whispered.

"Yep! Exactly!" Yang exclaimed.

"Fifteen minutes until show time, ladies!" Coco said as she walked by Team RWBY's room.

"Didn't Team CFVY beat a level 14?" Blake asked.

"Yes. Though they had a tough time, their impeccable teamwork carried them quite far." Weiss stated.

"I think Velvet once told me that they are all childhood friends…I Guess that's why they are all so good together." Ruby explained.

"Regardless, time's ticking down. I'ma take a leak before we fight." Yang said, walking out of the room.

"Don't miss." Weiss said as she loaded looked through the dust chambers of Myrtenaster one final time.

"Though I'm also worried, I think it's important to challenge ourselves, Ruby." Blake said, trying to comfort her young leader.

"And to be open to new things." Ruby said.

"That's correct. However, I expect battle tactics from you, just like our training in the gym. And NOT like the craziness you pulled in the Emerald Forest!" Weiss said as she walked up to Ruby and Blake.

"Hey! That was a good plan. He never saw it coming!" Ruby said in defense.

"Excuse you? 'He' was a bird! Any enemy with an actual brain will not fall for that. I'm only telling you that those kinds of attacks don't work that often. You shouldn't rely on them; because we're relying on you." Weiss stated, a softer tone coming out toward the end.

"…yeah…you're probably right." Ruby said with a sigh.

"She's right, though. We do rely on you because of how resourceful you are." Blake said.

"Indeed. It might have been a crazy plan, in the Emerald forest, but there's no denying that you won us that fight with your ingenuity." Weiss said.

"Aw, thanks, guys!" Ruby said as she wrapped her arms around her teammates.

"Oh my~ Sis, you gettin' frisky with both of 'em? At the same time?" Yang said as she walked through the door.

"Yang!" Ruby said with a pout.

"It's cool if you want more than one. But this one is mine~" Yang said before slapping Blake's butt.

"Oh, is that right?" Blake asked.

"Duh. You're the sub to my dom, baby." Yang said in a flirtatious tone before turning around to pick up Ember Celica. "Anyway, Neptune wished us good luck. He still outside if you want to talk to him…I think he's the only one still conscious." Yang said before both Ruby and Weiss walked out.

Before she could even react, Blake grabbed Yang's chin and pulled her back just slightly. Just enough so that their noses were mere millimeters apart. Yang had dreamed of this, but it was out of character for Blake, so she assumed she was getting messed with. Nevertheless, she was motionless. "I think we both know who's in charge here." Blake said.

"I don't think so, sweetheart; I always give the orders…you're just disobedient." Yang said with a smirk.

"Well, how about this? Even though this is a team match, our aura levels are shown individually. If the match ends with your aura higher than mine, I will do whatever you say for a full 24 hours. And if mine is higher than yours, you'll do whatever I say. Deal?" Blake asked as she let go of Yang's chin.

Yang began to speak her response with a rather confident attitude, "You know this isn't going to work out for you, right? I mean, I will–"

Yang was immediately pulled stomach-to-stomach with Blake's arm wrapped firmly around her waist, pulling them tighter. "You think I haven't noticed your little game? The flirting. The roaming eyes. The attitude. Stop pretending like you're so cool; out with it." Blake said.

"Fine." Yang said as she pulled away from her partner. "The person with the lowest aura does what the other says for an entire day…no exceptions." Yang said as she pulled Ember Celica over her hands and forearms.

"Hey, guys, c'mon. they said we need to go ahead and be standing at the gate." Ruby said after opening the door.

"Okay." Blake said as she took Gambol Shroud and placed it on her back.

"We've got like five more minutes." Ruby said.

"I hope you girls are ready to kick some ass." Yang stated as she adjusted the gauntlets.

"But, of course. Would you expect anything less?" Weiss said.

"Good luck, guys. We'll be rooting for you." Jaune said from behind them.

"Yes, I hope you all do well." Pyrrha said.

"Break their legs!" Nora said as Ren gave a thumbs up.

"Ladies…" One of the professors and moderators of the Hunt came up to them. "You requested for a level 16 simulation, is that right?" He asked.

"Yes, sir." Ruby said.

"I'm sure you've already been informed about how difficult that will be…are you sure?" The moderator asked.

The girls looked at each other for a moment before Ruby answered. "Yes." She said.

"Alright. I wish you the best of luck." The moderator said before running back to the control room.

Suddenly the intercom came back one. "Ladies and gentlemen! Humans and Faunus! I hope you're ready for this next fight because it is bound to be spectacular!" Professor Port said.

"That is right! Our next team is one you may have heard of from the Emerald Forest. Team RWBY; consisting of the leader, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long." Professor Oobleck stated.

"Indeed. And now, a little about our next team. Blake Belladonna, being of faunus descent has had a life wrought with struggle and determination. She is an orphan and has dedicated her life to fighting for the equality of faunus through peaceful means. Through her hardships, she has emerged as one of our finest students, both physically, and socially!" Professor Port said.

"Weiss Schnee is the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest manufactures of dust in all of Remnant. She hails from Atlas and, though she grew up very wealthy, she has chosen the path of a huntress in order to prove that she is worthy of respect, not due to her bloodline, but due to her actions and character." Professor Oobleck stated.

"Yang Xiao Long, daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long, is probably the most powerful person at the entire academy in terms of sheer power. She hails from Patch, and island off the coast of the City of Vale. There she attended Signal training academy and, with the training of her uncle, Qrow Branwen, became a force to be reckoned with." Professor Port explained.

"And finally, the leader of Team RWBY: Ruby Rose! She is the sister of Yang Xiao Long and second daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long. She, too, had her origins in Patch and Signal Academy, though her story happened quite a bit sooner. Miss Rose is a whole two years younger than the rest of her fellow freshmen. Don't let that fool you, however, since her training with her uncle was much more personal due to the fact that they are both masters of the scythe. She has proven herself capable of joining ranks with those at Beacon and will continue to astound us more." Professor Oobleck said.

"Without further ado, it is our pleasure to present…Team RWBY!" Both Professor Port and Oobleck said at the same time.

Team RWBY proceeded to walk through the gate to be greeted with the cheers of everyone in the stadium. "This is…uhh…there's more people here…than I thought." Ruby said.

"Still scared of crowds, sis?" Yang said.

"No!" Ruby quickly retorted.

"Just remain calm. Remember: they're all here to see you win." Weiss said.

"Thanks, Weiss." Ruby said.

"Team RWBY has decided to attempt the simulation at level…umm…level sixteen?" Professor Oobleck said with disbelief.

The audience cheered at the sound of the word 'sixteen.' "Are you ladies sure?" Professor Port asked.

Yang simply gave a thumbs up toward the booth in which the professors were sitting. "Okay! Sixteen it is!" Professor Oobleck said before pressing a button.

Without missing a moment, the entire arena began to shift much like the one at the gym. The energy shields protecting the audience began to darken and the noise from the cheering began to slowly lessen. Finally, the entire shield was dark like the night sky, which was accurate since stars began to suddenly appear. The shields were mimicking the night. Even from the audience's perspective, from the outside, the shields were acting as a form of television screen. What was seen happening in the shield were not necessarily real…at least in the terms of injuries. Ultimately, this was to create the illusion of a real combat scenario.

The noise from the crowd was finally gone, so they couldn't tell if they had stopped cheering or if the shield had blocked them out. In the distance, the ground shifted and, in a matter of seconds, a large, intricate house formed. Holographic trees began to take shape, but were soon colored to look exactly like actual trees. Water began to seemingly seep from the ground to form a large body of liquid. The girls were in the forest and there was a farm in the center, a very heavily guarded house, that was close to what looked like the ocean. The guards, however, had yet to begin moving, indicating that the Hunt had not yet officially began.

"This is some serious Friday the Thirteenth shit." Yang said.

"Ladies, if you will look above you, then you will see a timer set." Professor Port said. Sure enough, there was a timer counting down, in seconds, from thirty when they looked up.

"When the timer reaches zero, the match will begin. Your objective it to infiltrate the house and secure a priority one defector. He is currently in the custody of the government which he wishes to escape from; they, however, will not let him go due to the sensitive information he has. When and if you rescue him, you will have to wait to be sent an airship for exfil to a yet undisclosed location, though the possible exfil points have been marked on your scroll, along with other potentially useful information. As long as the defector makes it out, your Hunt will be considered a success. You may use any means you see fit, so long as the defector remains alive and is extracted. This might be a simulation, but I assure you that any harm you receive will be very real. We have medics on standby, should a situation arise where your lives may be in real danger. The simulation will not end if we are forced to remove one of you for medical reasons, we will simply disconnect that one person from the system so the simulation no longer recognizes them as a target. Until all four of you are out of the system or the goal is achieved, the simulation will not end. Good luck." Professor Oobleck said.

The moment the buzzer rang, all three girls made their way up into the trees for a view of the house. They each pulled out their ear pieces and connected them to their scrolls.

"Just threw us right in, huh?" Yang said.

"Like we said earlier…this won't be easy." Blake said.

"The guards have begun to move." Ruby stated. "Guess they were right about this upgrade being state-of-the-art…the guards don't look like they're moving in a preprogrammed manner." She said with a sigh.

"They definitely are preprogrammed, there's just probably millions of different scenarios for the NPC's to take." Weiss explained.

"Probably just best to assume it's all real, then." Yang said.

"Agreed." Blake said.

"Any ideas?" Weiss asked.

"We could use–" Yang was immediately cut off by two quick beeps in the ear piece, indicating radio silence. They all looked down to their scrolls and saw a few quick texts from Ruby:

 **[R]: guards n forest**

 **[R]: 1 below me.**

 **[R]: radio silence**

 **[R]: stay n tree. scout area**

The rest of the girls began to silently move away from their initial hiding spots. While moving, Weiss noticed one guard in the tree with a sniper rifle. Using a glyph, the sniper was frozen in place until Weiss managed to make it over to him. She thawed the radio he had attached to his shoulder and removed it before stabbing him in the throat. She then muted the radio and connected it to their scroll network so Team RWBY would be able to hear all of the enemy chatter. She then sent out a text informing her team of what took place.

 **[W]: Watch out for snipers in the trees; I've already taken care of one.**

 **[W]: I took His radio and connected it to our network so we can hear what's going on.**

 **[Y]: fuckin sweet**

 **[B]: Well done. Let's take this time to find weak spots in their defenses.**

The radio was then filled with just a few moments of chatter before silencing again. It was in an unfamiliar language. Suddenly there were several different people's voices saying the same word over and over again over the radio. "Berichterstattung!" Weiss said over the guard's radio. The repeating of words on their end, however, continued.

 **[R]: wat was that**

 **[R]: wat did they say**

 **[R]: and u**

 **[W]: They said there were thirty minutes until an airship arrived to pick up our defector.**

 **[W]: They then asked all of the guards to report in via radio, which I had to do in the place**

 **of the guard I disposed of.**

 **[Y]: fuck a time limit**

 **[Y]: any openings to use**

 **[B]: There's a slaughterhouse here, so there are probably drainage pipes that we can use.**

 **[W]: I can see them from my angle. They are to the left of the docks.**

 **[R]: we can use h2o for cover**

 **[B]: Everyone head to the shoreline.**

The girls quickly made their way to the through the shoreline. Fortunately, when the match started, the water was not too far to the left. Basically, the water was in the left most part of the arena, the farm was in the center, and the trees were shaped in a crescent shape around the house, opening up to the left where it met the ocean.

Blake and Weiss managed to get to the shore first. Ruby had taken her time locating all of the exits and noting that, not including windows, there were three main exits. Looking at her scroll, she saw that there were six total exfil points, with four in a more-or-less straight line from the rear exit of the house. " _Looks like the back door is the best bet…assuming we don't have to wait too long for a confirmed exfil point._ " She pondered.

Yang noticed how all of the windows in the house were being used as vantage points for riflemen or machine gunners. While making her way around the house through the trees, and avoiding any guards or snipers, she managed to take a peek through each of the windows and never saw her target. " _So…he's either tied up in the bathroom or the basement. My vote is for the basement._ " She thought to herself.

Eventually, the girls managed to meet up again. Ruby showed up third, and Yang followed shortly after. "Targets probably in the basement. I could see through each of the windows, and I didn't find him." Yang said between quiet gasps of air.

"Does the scroll say how far out the airship is?" Ruby asked.

"About sixty klicks. Assuming it has to take off, and that we are deep in enemy territory, it'll probably take about ten minutes or so to arrive." Weiss said after looking at her scroll.

"So we sneak in through the drainage pipes, right? It's connected to the slaughter house behind our target house…so we'll have to bust in through the floor before we reach the end of the pipe." Blake explained.

"How do we know when we've gone far enough through the pipes to start the fireworks?" Yang asked.

"Leave that to me." Weiss said as she pulled out Myrtenaster and aimed the point toward the roof of the house. All that could be seen exiting from the blade was a small, quick gust of wind which went straight for the house. As soon as it was about to hit the roof, it entered through one of the windows.

"What was that?" Ruby asked.

"An incredibly small wind glyph. I can sense where my glyphs are so I'll know when we are directly under the house." Weiss answer while holstering Myrtenaster.

"Cool! And what about not killing our target when we blast a hole through the floor?" Ruby asked.

"I've got that covered. A house being this close to the ocean has to have drains in the basement in case of flooding; drains connected to our pipes. I can use my superior perception to listen to where any people are in the basement." Blake said quickly.

"Could we use those drains to sneak into the house instead of giving away our presence?" Ruby asked.

"No, they are designed to be small with many curves to prevent animals from crawling into the house during a flood." Blake answered.

"Okay. Ice Princess tells us when to aim, Blakey tells us where to aim, I shoot, and Ruby grabs the target during the confusion. That cool?" Yang asked everyone.

"Perfect. After we get the target, we should head back into the pipe and go straight for the slaughter house. If Yang's explosion prevents us from going back the way we came, then we head out through the back door and go to the slaughter house. Either way, we can probably use it as a defensive position until the airship arrives." Ruby said.

"That sounds good. How much time do we have?" Weiss asked.

"We sent those texts about seven minutes ago, so, if we assume their airship will be on time, we have twenty-three minutes." Blake said after looking at her scroll.

"I'll call our ship as soon as I see Ruby grab the target." Yang said.

"Okay, let's go." Ruby said as everyone quickly submerges themselves into the water and swims toward the pipes.

They only had to swim about twenty meters to get to the pipe, but they had to swim deep enough that the dock guards wouldn't see them. They finally emerged, silently gasping for air, under the docks, and against the rock that the docks emerged from. "Okay…the pipes are over there." Ruby whispered as she pointed. "Just about three meters away." She continued.

"That's perfect. I can manipulate the light around the area between us and the pipes as to conceal our movement." Blake whispered while slowly wading through the water. She extended her right arm and held her fingers out. "I'm not used to manipulating this much light at once, so you guys need to go. But not too fast, I can't prevent sound from exiting." Blake whispered as her teammates walked forward.

"Okay, one at a time." Ruby said, signaling for Yang to go first.

Yang slowly walks out from under the dock, back against the rocks, and looks at the guards. She is worried at first due to the guard on the right turning his head and looking directly at her, but is relieved when he continues to scan the water on his side. She gives a quick thumbs-up and continues to move. "Good to go." Yang whispered over the ear piece after entering the pipe.

Ruby signals for Weiss to go next, who makes her way through the water without even looking around at the guards.

"The second I make it across, you make your way there." Ruby said before Blake nods. Ruby makes quick work of wading through the water silently, just like Weiss. " _Their small frames make it easy to sneak around, I guess…I should probably hide some of my more explicit books before she sneaks around somewhere she shouldn't. I don't need her hothead older sister beating the crap out of me._ " Blake thought as she slowly made her way across to the pipe.

"Awesome! Weiss, how will we know when to stop?" Ruby asked.

"I'll tell you…" Weiss said while walking forward.

"Good thing you gals left your cutesy heels back at the dorm~" Yang said sarcastically, toward Blake and Weiss, as all four of them walked through the pipe. The drainage pipes, being form a slaughterhouse, were filled with every from of gore and bodily excretion one could think of. It was used to drain blood, guts, bones, sewage, and more right into the ocean.

"Shut up! I can't believe that anyone would just dump this…crap…into the water. I know it's a simulation, but surely people so this for real!" Weiss complained.

"They are bad guys. I doubt littering is the worst of their offenses." Blake said.

"Fortunately, it's not real." Ruby said with a worried chuckle.

"We're getting close." Weiss said after taking a quite a few turns and walking about forty meters total.

"I think this is the drain from the basement, here." Blake said.

"You weren't kidding about making those drains intricate, the house isn't for about another ten meters." Weiss said.

"From what I can hear…there are seven people in the basement and one is breathing very quietly. He's probably our target; I bet the others have been torturing him." Blake said.

"Can you tell exactly where he is?" Yang asked.

Blake concentrated as she closed her eyes, "I'm pretty sure they have him tied up to a support column in the very center. So if we bust open one of the corners we should–"

"Töte sie alle!" A voice from the drain said. Suddenly gunshots and missiles could be heard from the house and echoing through the drainage pipe from outside.

"What did they say?!" Ruby asked.

"They said 'Kill them all!' But they're not shooting us." Weiss said.

Ruby looked at her scroll, "But who–"

"The White Fang!" Blake said.

"You sure?" Yang asked.

"Yes, they're moving and fighting way faster, but are still remaining very silent. I'm sure the people attacking are faunus." Blake explained.

"Okay, new plan. I bust a whole right here, we grab him, and all the ship!" Yang yelled.

Blake clenched her fists before speaking, "Fine. Just aim over–"

A single gunshot rang out. Yang's eyes went wide as she saw the White Fang soldiers moving in from the entrance to the pipe. Flames burst from her hair and her eyes turned blood red, not from the presence of the White Fang, but from her partner lying in a pool of her own blood. "YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" She yelled while jumping over Blake's body.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

"Fall back!" The White Fang lieutenant yelled as his men were being butchered by a certain blonde-haired brawler. The soldiers did just that, especially since their weapons appeared to be having virtually no effect.

Yang was concentrating her power into her punches, so her aura was almost nonexistent at this point. In spite of that, the bullets would penetrate her body, but the wounds would almost instantly cauterize. Her pure fighting instincts were taking over, so when she wasn't about to attack someone, her arms remained close to her torso in order to block bullets from hitting any vital organs. Yang was still getting shot quite frequently, but that was only fueling her attacks…and it would only take one well-placed shot to end it all.

"YANG!" Ruby yelled as she ripped Blake's jacket and tank top off to put her entire body weight onto Blake's uncovered wound. " _She's putting everything into her attacks…Yang's not in control!_ " Ruby thought with panic.

"What are you doing, you brute?!" Weiss yelled, attacking as many faunus as she could from her distance. Yang had been pushing the White Fang back but was following them as they retreated. "YANG?!" Weiss yelled.

Both Ruby and Weiss froze when Yang responded to Weiss' call. Yang glared at them for a single moment, her eyes were blood red and her hair aflame. There was no rationalization in Yang's eyes, just pure hatred and rage. That look she gave was befitting for her current appearance; she had blood splattered everywhere on her body, she was bruised and swollen in some areas, and there were pieces of her victims that were stuck on her body after blowing them up. Yang turned her head back around and continued her onslaught.

Weiss heard Yang continue her rampage around the corner of the pipe before calling out again, "Y–"

"Don't bother…" Ruby said.

Weiss looked to her leader in shock, "What do you m–"

"Blake needs help!" Ruby yelled. "Put your hands here and hold pressure." Ruby explained.

Weiss simply followed her orders after seeing how much blood Blake had lost. Weiss put her hands on top of Ruby's and applied pressure, reserving her entire body weight until Ruby pulled her hands out from underneath hers. They exchanged slight glances before Ruby pulled her hands out and Weiss' hands almost immediately filled the emptiness. " _Oh my god! It's not stopping!_ " Weiss thought after seeing it continue to seep out, despite her entire body weight being placed onto her hands.

"It probably hit her aorta…" Ruby said as she reached into one of Weiss's belt pouches for a vial of flame dust and a syringe of bio-dust. "Okay! On three, you're going to pull your hands away and I'll dump the bio-dust into her wound. When we're sure the bleeding has stopped, both externally and internally, you need to blast a hole into the house and see if our target is still there! Do you understand?" Ruby asked.

"Damnit! Yes, hurry up!" Weiss said. " _We have to continue the mission or all of this would be for nothing._ " Weiss though, as she finally got to the same page as Ruby.

"One…two…" Ruby started as they stared at Weiss' hands, covering Blake's wound. "…THREE!" Ruby yelled before Weiss pulled her hands away. Ruby squeezed the syringe and watched as the liquid ran across the outer layer of Blake's intestines and blood vessels, stopping the bleeding. When Ruby was sure the bio-dust had congealed appropriately, she looked up and nodded toward Weiss.

Weiss aimed Myrtenaster toward the top of the pipe a few meters away and placed a glyph on the pipe. Just a few seconds later, the glyph exploded through the entire foundation and penetrated the basement. Weiss walked over to the hole, placed a gravity glyph under her feet, and launched herself into the building.

" _Okay, Weiss is taking care of that…let's see what I can do here._ " Ruby thought as she squeezed the bullet wound closed on Blake's back. She then poured some of the flame dust on the wound and applied some of her energy to it. The flame dust instantly ignited and burned around Ruby's fingers, her aura not letting her get hurt by it. Blake, being unconscious, had no aura to defend herself…so the flame dust worked very quickly and efficiently.

When Ruby pulled her hands away, she saw a large burn where the bullet hole was. Not missing a moment, Ruby turned Blake onto her back and looked over the exit wound. Seeing that it wasn't bleeding, she was relieved the bio-dust had made its' way all the way through her wound. Again, she squeezed the bullet wound closed and applied flame dust and a bit of her energy. The wound closed up, leaving only a burn behind. Blake was lucky the bullet hit slightly to the left of her spine, in the narrow part of her waist.

"He's not there." Weiss said as she floated back down on a glyph. "How is Blake?"

"She'll probably live, though I doubt she'll wake up anytime soon. She probably lost almost three pints of blood." Ruby explained as she placed her hands over Blake's stomach and pulsed her aura through her. "I did as best I could, but I'm not too familiar with her aura." Ruby continued.

"I think we need to leave, but we can't go the way we came in." Weiss said, still hearing gunshots and explosions echoing through the pipe.

"Through the building, then. We still have to find the target." Ruby said as she picked up Blake bridal style.

Weiss grabbed Blake's mostly intact tank top and covered her torso with it. "In case she wakes up…I doubt she'll want to be wearing only a bra." Weiss explained. It was now that she fully recognized how much blood there was. There was a large puddle on the ground, and Blake was covered in her own blood. Some of the red on Ruby's clothes weren't from the fabric and Weiss' white attire was littered with blots and splatters of blood. The most blood, however, was on their arms from dealing with the bleeding. " _At least the black hides most of the blood on her…maybe I shouldn't wear white while fighting._ " Weiss pondered as she placed a glyph under their feet and lifted them into the house.

As Ruby and Weiss landed in the house, they could hear the battle going on outside. They began to walk toward the only staircase leading up to the main floor with Weiss taking point. The stairs creaked as they quickly made their way up, but the war sounds from outside kept it hidden well. Weiss slowly opened the door and walked outside to find herself in a kitchen. She nodded toward Ruby who ran out and took cover behind the kitchen island.

"Schnappen Sie mehr Munition!" a voice yelled from upstairs. Weiss noticed the ammo of all kinds being kept on the dining room table and quickly darted toward the doorway and hiding to the left of it.

"What did he say?" Ruby whispered. Her curiosity was cut short by the sound of a few footsteps going down the stairs. Weiss stayed behind the doorframe until she heard them try to pick up an ammo box. She then darted through the doorway and stabbed one in the neck and, before the other could yell out, she pulled out from his neck and slashed horizontally, slitting the other's throat.

"He said to grab some ammo." Weiss stated quietly. Ruby came out from behind the counter and followed her.

"Looks like most of the soldiers are upstairs or in the living room firing through the windows. They probably took the target upstairs for an emergency extraction." Ruby said.

"They can't land an airship on this house." Weiss said as they made it to the bottom of the stairs.

"There's a balcony on the second floor that an airship could fly close to; close enough to obtain a package." Ruby said. Before they could make their way up, they heard a loud explosion from the second floor, causing Ruby sit lay Blake down onto the ground.

" _The White Fang must have RPG's._ " Weiss thought. She was startled, but had a plan, "We need to get m–" Weiss turned her head after hearing a loud thud.

"Legen Sie das Schwert nach unten!" A man said. Weiss looked on as she saw Blake laying on the floor and Ruby being held in a one-armed chokehold by him. Blood was going down Ruby's face, which only pissed off Weiss more. Before she could try to attack him, many other soldiers from the living room rushed in and aimed their guns at her.

" _How dare you hit her, you son of a bitch!_ " Weiss thought. She nonchalantly slid Myrtenaster in a horizontal pattern at each of the soldiers aiming at her while pretending to put the weapon onto the floor. "Ich werde...einfach nur entspannen." She said. Before letting go of Myrtenaster, she summoned many small glyphs under each of the soldiers she could see. When she let go of Myrtenaster, she pointed her right hand upward and immediately straightened her body upright. Her action caused each of the small glyphs to activate, which shot out a long, sharp pillar of ice to be crated and shoot up. Each of the soldiers she could see were instantly impaled.

"Was zum Teufel!?" The man said before Ruby did a backward head-butt, probably breaking his nose. The man stepped back and grabbed his face; when he removed his hands, he saw only Weiss' Blade about an inch away from his throat. Purposefully stopping, she activated Myrtenaster flame dust which exploded out like a flamethrower, engulfing his face in fire.

"Don't you dare harm my teammates again, scum!" Weiss said as the man screamed and scratched at his face in an attempt to put the flames out. In a matter of seconds, his body ceased all movement. "Ruby, are you okay?" Weiss asked after examining her head wound.

"Yeah, probably just a minor concussion." Ruby responded.

"It looks like this building is mostly empty now, everyone else is outside fighting the White Fang. Let's look around upstairs." Weiss said.

Ruby walked over and picked Blake back up bridal style, and began walking upstairs behind Blake. Most of the second floor had been destroyed by explosives and the roof was caving in. "I guess they took the target elsewhere." Ruby said.

They both looked out the window and could see some fighting going on in the fields, but mostly in the forest. The slaughterhouse is being occupied by the White Fang as an impromptu command center. In front of the slaughterhouse, an airship was landing where they saw several White Fang soldiers get out as well as a lieutenant carrying what looked like a chainsaw sword.

"That doesn't look like much fun." Ruby said.

"Where could they have taken the target? Into the forest?" Weiss wondered.

"No…" Ruby and Weiss were both shocked to hear this voice. They both looked down and saw Blake gripping her stomach. Ruby put Blake down and leaned her against the wall.

"Blake! Are you feeling okay?" Ruby asked.

"As okay as I possibly could be right now." Blake responded as she glanced over the window seal. "Looks like the fighting is heading toward the water. I bet the soldiers are taking our target to a hidden boat on the coast." She said while putting her bloodied tank top back on.

"This simulation is ridiculous." Weiss said sarcastically.

"You guys go ahead and ca– where's Yang?" Blake asked.

"She kind of went berserk when she saw you get shot." Ruby said.

"Idiot." Blake said with a sigh. "Go catch up to the target, I'm sure you will find Yang in the forest also. I'll try to contact her via radio and see if I can calm her down." Blake said before grabbing a sniper rifle from a corpse. "And if I manage to see anyone through the trees, I'll pick them off." She continued.

"You can't stay here!" Ruby said.

"I can't go with you…there's no way I can walk." Blake explained. "Just get to the target and call our airship in." She said.

"She right. We need to go if we want to pass the Hunt." Weiss said.

"Fine." Ruby said in a monotone voice.

Ruby and Weiss stood up and were about to jump off of the second floor behind the house. Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at the stairs and placed a few small glyphs on the staircase. "That's just in case someone tries to attack you. I put six traps on the stairs, so be careful." Weiss said.

"Thanks, you too." Blake said as she loaded the rifle.

Both Ruby and Weiss jumped off from the building and ran into the forest without anyone from the field noticing them. They began running toward the shoreline, using the trees for cover.

Blake screwed on a silencer she found and aimed the rifle out of the window. The second her rifle was pointed outside, she saw rain drops begin to start falling, "Yeah…that's my luck." Blake checked her scroll, to make sure it was still connected to her earpiece and opened a private channel for her and Yang. "Yang?" She asked.

There was static from the other end with the occasional explosion coming through.

"Yang? It's Blake. Answer me!" Blake said. She saw a sniper make his way to the top of one of the trees. Before the enemy could even aim toward the battle, she had sunk a slug into his head. "Yang?!" Blake asked.

All that could be heard over the radio were explosions, gunfire, and the occasional grunt from Yang. She was completely lost is probably sustaining even worse injuries than Blake. She switched back over to the team channel to talk to Weiss and Ruby. "Guys, I'm not making it through to Yang." She said.

"Yeah…she's a little preoccupied…" Ruby said.

"What do you mean?!" Blake asked.

Ruby and Weiss were appalled by the sight they saw. Dozens of dead soldiers and White Fang scattered around the trees with a forest fire building up, but being held at bay by the rain. Yang, herself, was covered in blood and gore from who knows how many people. Her eyes were swollen, her body was bruised, and she had a few bullet wounds in non-vital areas.

"She's not cauterizing the unimportant wounds anymore…She prioritizing her energy." Weiss said.

"So she's calmed down some?" Blake asked.

"Not for long…" Ruby said as she looked to her left and saw the White Fang lieutenant approaching Yang.

"I see the target!" Weiss said as she pointed behind the lieutenant to see a man, who had clearly been the victim of torture, tied up and being guarded by soldiers.

"We need to work our way around without getting involved in the fight." Ruby said. Without hesitation, Yang launched herself forward to attack the lieutenant. "No, Yang's fighting the big guy." Ruby said.

"What do we do?" Blake asked.

"Blake, call the airship. Weiss, you need to provide cover for Yang. I'm getting the target." Ruby said.

"Understood." Blake and Weiss said in unison.

Ruby dashed upward through the trees and began making her way over to the target. Yang was attacking like a monster, killing White Fang members, but never quite being able to hit the lieutenant too often.

Weiss summoned a glyph under the two personal guards who were protecting the target, causing them both to ignite. The White Fang members turned to see Ruby landing behind the target and untying him.

"Stop her, you fuck-wits!" the lieutenant said.

As the White Fang began running toward her, Weiss summoned a wall of ice to protect her. This only gave Ruby enough time to untie the target and pick him up. The second she lifted him over her shoulder, the wall of ice shattered from an explosion. Weiss jumped down to protect Ruby, giving her enough time to jump into the trees with him.

She sat him down in an unoccupied sniper's nest and turned her attention back to Yang and Weiss. Weiss was taking on seven White Fang at once while Yang was still facing off with the lieutenant.

"Ruby, I can see you and the target." Blake said. "Go ahead and give them a hand and I'll tell you if someone tries to swipe the target from us." She said.

"Awesome, thanks, Blake." Ruby said while jumping down to Weiss' aide.

As Ruby landed, she killed three of the White Fang and Weiss took advantage of the confusion and froze the other four in place. They ran up to help Yang with her fight.

As soon as Ruby had Yang in her sights, she saw the chainsaw begin ripping through her sister's abdomen. Yang was holding onto the blade as it was being pushed into her side, her gauntlets protecting her hands from being shredded and her aura slowly melting the chainsaw blade. The second the blade ripped off of the chainsaw, Yang pulled it out of her side and threw a punch at the lieutenant. The punch made contact with his stomach, but the fiery blast that followed seemed to blow the back half of his torso completely off. Pieces of his spinal cord, intestines, and blood sprayed all over Ruby and Weiss.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she ran up to her sister, who was holding her side. She placed her hand on Yang's shoulder, but she shrugged it off. "Yang, calm down. Blake is fine." Ruby said, causing Yang to look in her direction.

"Yang?" Blake asked over the intercom.

Yang's eyes went wide when she heard her partner's voice. "B–Blake?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, still here." Blake said.

Yang wiped away her tears with her hands, allowing Ruby a good view of the injury she sustained. "It looks like the wound is cauterized, but that doesn't fix the internal damage." Ruby said.

"Her kidney is probably mush." Weiss said.

"I'll be fine for now." Yang said in between gasps of air. "Let's just finish this stupid thing."

Ruby jumped back up to the sniper's nest to see the target lying unconscious. She looked in the distance to see the airship that Blake called. The airship just passed by Ruby when she saw a missile shot from the ocean coming directly toward the ship. Ruby jumped forward while pulling her scythe out and slashed the missile in half, causing it to immediately explode.

Ruby was knocked into a tree with burns on her arms and shrapnel in her entire body. She wasn't yet unconscious, so she began to flood her body with endorphins to help with the pain. She wasn't in any immediate danger, but her wounds were severe, nonetheless.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled. When she looked out to the ocean, she saw a White Fang boat speeding toward the shore. Weiss stuck Myrtenaster into the ground, activating the ice dust, and froze the water up to about fifty meters away. The boat stopped in its tracks, but the passengers, in accordance with the laws of momentum, kept going. Five people landed, and slid, quite a distance and Blake was picking them off one-by-one.

"LZ is hot, get back to the docks. We'll come around for another run in ten minutes." The airship pilot said as he flew away.

"Too hot? The fuck does he– oh shit…" Yang was stunned by the sight she saw.

Weiss turned around and instantly jumped into a fighting stance, willing to protect Ruby no matter the cost.

"Guys, I think there are Grimm heading our way. I see a few Nevermores flying in the distance." Blake said.

"Yeah…you're probably right." Yang said as she cocked Ember Celica.

"What do you–" Blake was interrupted by the sound of hundreds of Grimm growling.

Yang and Weiss prepared themselves for the onslaught of Grimm that was coming as hundreds of Grimm began pouring through the trees.

"Shit."


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

* * *

"Weiss! Grab the target, he's atop the tree to your left!" Ruby yelled as she pushed herself to her feet, tears threatening to emerge from her eyes.

Weiss simply nodded, summoned a glyph, and flew above the tree line. At this point, all of the members of Team RWBY had reached an understanding as to the importance of the mission above all else. Passing the Hunt was the only objective and, to do that, the target needed to be secured.

Ruby slammed the blade of Crescent Rose into the ground, aiming the barrel towards the Grimm that were emerging from the trees. " _I can barely hold up Crescent Rose…We have to get to a more easily defendable location._ " Ruby looked at her burned arms and around the area as she pondered her next move. They were in a sizable area of treeless space due to Yang's psycho episode, which had burned down most of the vegetation.

Yang, tired and almost unable to keep herself upright, managed to get herself into the best fighting stance she could muster. " _Damn chainsaw…_ " she thought.

The Grimm began racing toward them. Ruby and Yang began firing off rounds, hitting the beasts one after the other. Blake could only occasionally see through the trees well enough to fire a round. Weiss was crouching next to the target, "Where do you want me to take him?" she asked over the network.

"Is the slaughter house still available?" Ruby asked. The Grimm had gotten close enough that firing at them with their weapons was no longer effective. The sisters had resorted to using guerrilla warfare, running through the forest and jumping through the trees to evade certain death.

"Negative. The White Fang are using it as their command center." Blake said.

"And the soldiers that were here first? What happened to those guys?" Yang asked.

"They fell back, but I can see airships landing in the distance, so we can safely assume they're regrouping." Weiss stated.

"Any ideas where to hold out?" Yang asked.

"We could probably defend the house." Blake said.

"I agree. It's also quite close to the docks, so we won't have to run out of cover very far to get to the exfil point." Weiss explained.

"It'll take a while for me and Yang to get there. We're not moving at full speed." Ruby stated. "Weiss, take the target and make your way over to Blake. Defend the house until the airship arrives." Ruby ordered.

"Fine, but you had better make your way over there soon." Weiss scolded as she activated a glyph under her feet and the target. They both began to levitate and were soon on their way toward the house.

As Ruby and Yang were fighting the hordes of Grimm, Ruby was noticing more and more blood coming from Yang. Eventually, she noticed the wound on her side had blood running from it, despite it being a closed wound. " _Yang probably doesn't have enough energy left to fully cauterize the wound, so it keeps opening. Not to mention that her kidney (or what's left of it) needs to be removed before it starts rotting inside her._ " Ruby thought worryingly.

Ruby wasn't fairing all that well either. She figured she had a few broken ribs, some internal bleeding, and the burns and shrapnel. She was surely not going to last ten minutes of fighting…if you could even call it that. Yang and Ruby's guerrilla warfare was hardly warfare at all as it consisted more of them hiding and evading the creatures, occasionally killing a few that caught on to them.

Looking at her scroll, Ruby saw that Weiss was the only person with enough energy to actually continue fighting. Ruby and Blake were very close to a red aura level, whereas Yang was clearly not fit for battle. The level 16 simulation, however, had overridden the tournament rules that the Hunt was supposed to abide by. Now, unless your life was in immediate danger, the outside would not intervene.

Eventually Yang and Ruby managed to meet up in the forest, hardly twenty meters from where their battle started. "How're we gonna get back to the house?" Yang asked, not using the network.

"I don't know. What we're doing now, hiding and occasionally running, will take too long. And even if we did make it to the field, there's no cover between the trees and the house, so the White Fang will just shoot us. Going around through the trees, assuming we make it through the Grimm, will just result in us being attacked by the regrouping soldiers…and we're in no shape for a real fight." Ruby explained.

"We could go back through the water. To the pipes, I mean?" Yang wondered aloud.

"There's sewage in the water. And with all our wounds, we'd just get a nasty infection." Ruby answered.

"Shit…literally. So, what now?" Yang asked, seemingly unworried.

"I think we just have to hold out here. If we head north, we can ambush the soldiers and mostly prevent them from getting to the fields. So long as we don't get into an all-out firefight with them, we should be okay." Ruby said, ignoring Yang's horrible pun.

"Yeah, I figured we'd have to stay behind. So what, we stop the soldiers but the Grimm get through? Or the other way around?" Yang asked while reloading Ember Celica.

"Yes. We let the Grimm reach the field, but the White Fang are between the house and the trees. So, they'll have to start fending off the Grimm." Ruby explained.

"Oh, Okay. So the White Fang and Grimm are occupied by each other and we stall the Atlesian-speaking-guys. So, hopefully, Weiss and Blakey just have to wait." Yang said while cocking Ember Celica.

"Exactly." Ruby answered while reloading Crescent Rose.

"Why not let the soldiers through and stall the Grimm…at least they don't have guns." Yang asked.

"The soldiers will use the forest to their advantage to flank and ambush the White Fang...and we know they're actively looking to get the target back from us. The Grimm aren't smart enough to do that and they don't care about the target." Ruby explained.

"True. Good thing the Grimm are stupid…we'd be fucked if they ever got smart one day." Yang said, remembering the importance of the target.

"Ruby, I just arrived at the house and met up with Blake. When are you two going to get here?" Weiss asked.

"We're on our way Ice Queen, we just had to stop and powder our noses." Yang said as the sisters began making their way north in intercept the soldiers.

"Ugh, just hurry up. And tell us when you're getting close to the tree line so we can provide covering fire." Weiss answered.

"No probs. How're you holding up Blakey?" Yang asked.

"I'm in pain, but probably not as bad as you." Blake answered.

"I'm only feeling a little pain, because of my semblance, though I am getting weaker so the pain is getting progressively worse. But tomorrow…oh God! I don't even want to think about it!" Yang said sarcastically.

"I can't believe your joking at a time like this." Blake said with a slight chuckle.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I can see Grimm heading into the fields." Weiss said.

"Weiss, don't show yourself. Just stay in the house and defend the target, and Blake, if anyone tries to make their way in. Blake, take off your bow and start shooting the Grimm. Only the Grimm." Ruby ordered.

"No problem." Blake said.

"Already on it." Weiss stated.

" _Remove my bow so the White Fang will see my ears when I start firing at the Grimm. As long as they don't see Weiss, they'll think I'm on their side. Brilliant._ " Blake thought. The girls were no longer surprised at how good of a battlefield tactician Ruby was. She might be immature at times, but during a fight, she was someone you would follow on the road to Hell.

"From here on out, radio silence until the airship arrives." Ruby said before silencing the network.

"Rubes…stop." Yang whispered. "Up ahead, there's a group of soldiers." She said.

"They're scouts, looking for a way to get their mechs through, probably. Let them pass; when they find a way through, we'll set a trap for them." Ruby said after noticing the support equipment the soldiers were carrying.

"If that's what they're doing, I know where they'll choose to go. C'mon." Yang said as they worked her way around the scouts, unseen.

Yang and Ruby made their way to a river about thirty meters in front of the scouts. "Water's real calm and shallow; only about thigh-deep. But the river runs all the way up to the slaughter house turning a water wheel." Yang said. "And if we follow the river the opposite way, we'll get back to the ocean…and be able to see the docks. Can probably make it there in a few minutes." She finished.

"Perfect." Ruby said as she reached into three of the pouches on her waist belt. She pulled out six square devices that were only missing a cylindrical component. "These are bombs that Weiss made for me. Load them with a certain type of Dust and watch the magic happen." Ruby explained as she pulled out one of her magazines containing ice rounds.

Like she had been doing it all her life, she dismantled six of the bullets, revealing the actual lead round and the ice-dust that launched it from the rifle. Fortunately, her .50 caliber rounds used the same size cylindrical dust chamber that the bombs used. After dismantling the rounds, she put the bullets back into one of her pouches, loaded each of the bombs, and began placing them at regular intervals about ten feet apart.

"Ruby, into the trees." Yang half-whispered after Ruby had placed the last one. Like clockwork, the soldiers began to appear with four mechs mixed into the mass. Ruby and Yang watched as the soldiers stopped to talk and slowly began marching into and around the river, with the mechs walking into the river as well. "Tell me when." Yang whispered as she loaded her left gauntlet with her long-ranged slugs and her right gauntlet with a new custom ammunition of hers: Pulse Slugs.

Originally, she had two types of rounds colored-coded by their effects. The orange colored shells were designed to carry a flame-dust-filled slug over long distances, immediately combusting on impact. The small amount of dust that fit into the slugs was, by no means, weak to people, but posed little of a problem for mechs. The red colored shells were filled with a flame-dust and sulfur mixture, creating a much larger fiery blast at the expense of long ranged fighting, due to the lack of a propellant. She used the red shells during close quarters combat.

Her newest invention used a combination of (from bottom to top) an anti-matter propellant, a pulse generator, and entirely encased a fragmentation casing filled with flame-dust. Upon impact, the pulse generator would activate creating a pulse wave equivalent to over one thousand kJ of energy while also creating a fiery blast from the dust. These slugs were colored yellow and they were deadly.

Ruby wanted to wait for all four mechs to be in between the bombs that had been placed. As soon as the last mech stepped into the kill zone, she activated the bombs. They all went off at once, causing the water to instantly freeze up to about five meters away from the kill zone. Some of the soldiers were frozen dead by the explosion, but most were simply dazed. The main goal, however, had succeeded: freezing the mechs' legs in place.

"Fire!" Ruby said as she began firing Crescent Rose at the soldiers below. Yang began attacking the mechs with her pulse slugs, which were proving very effective. The first shot took one of the farthest mech's arms clean off and damaged the torso; the second hit the torso and nearly eradicated all of the hardware inside of it. The mech had completely stopped moving and the pilot attempted to step out only to have his head taken clean off by a round from Crescent Rose.

Without missing a beat, Yang began fired rounds toward the other three mechs, while jumping from tree to tree to avoid their almost random shots. The mech in the middle had his anti-matter compression tank hit, rupturing it and allowing air to enter. This caused another explosion, completely destroying that mech and damaging the two next to it.

The last two pilots decided to abandon ship and tried to exit their machines, but Yang had noticed. Ruby's Crescent Rose made short work of the pilot on her side, while Yang fired a pulse round toward the pilot closest to her. " _Definitely overkill._ " Yang thought as the pilot's body exploded into hundreds of chunks, coating all of the remaining soldiers in gore.

The few dozen remaining soldiers were in shock, and Yang was about to take advantage of that. She pulled her arm back, ready to rain Hell on the remaining soldiers until a bullet ripped through her right arm, shattering her elbow. "GOD-FUCKING-DAMNIT!" Yang yelled as she fell to the ground from the tree. She hit the ground, with her front facing downward, causing a few ribs to break, her side wound to reopen, and a dislocated right shoulder and ankle.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she caught sight of the soldiers closing in the form of backup. Though they were still about thirty-forty meters away, a few snipers were getting into position. " _One, two, three, four…four snipers, one in position already._ " Ruby thought as she fired off a round, hitting the sniper square in the chest. The other three couldn't even get into position before they were missing limbs of their own.

When the soldiers by the river had realized what was going on, they tried to rush Yang altogether. Yang picked up her right forearm, with her left arm, aimed toward the base of a large tree and fired another pulse slug at it. The tree fell down, possibly killing a few of the soldiers, but definitely buying her some time by cutting off their route. The recoil of the pulse slug reverberated through Yang as her body ached. She lifted her left leg and smashed her boot down on her right ankle, reconnecting the bones, with a devastating amount of pain.

"Yang! Reinforcements are coming, let's go!" Ruby yelled. The river soldiers were finally able to narrow down her general location. They began firing and one of the soldiers threw a grenade up into the trees. The grenade exploded after Ruby had jumped away, but the force still managed to hit her, propelling her farther than anticipated. Her cloak caught onto one of the branches and her arm had gotten tangled into one of the ripped holes of the cloak. The angle at which it was caught caused her right arm to instantly snap backward.

She threw her left hand over her mouth to muffle her screams since the soldiers had lost track of her. Fortunately, her arm was probably the only reason that she didn't get strangled by her own cloak. Ruby used her left arm to pull on the cloak, causing it to rip free from the branch and she landed onto another branch safely. The soldiers had given up looking for Ruby, assuming they'd killed her and were making their way around the fallen tree.

Yang, still on the ground from the pain, shoved herself to her feet, and managed to jump into the trees. Not believing Ruby was dead but worried nevertheless, she jumped from branch to branch, ignoring her pain. She managed to catch the sight of Ruby yanking on her cloak and landing onto another branch.

"Where in the hell are you two?" Blake yelled over the network, breaking radio silence. "The airship will be here in two minutes. Get over here now!" she shouted.

"On our way." Ruby half-whispered.

Yang jumped down from the branch above her sister and hugged her tightly. Knowing her sister was alive made it so where she was no longer ignoring her pain. Yang's aura was devastatingly low and after looking at the scroll, she saw that everyone was running on fumes. " _I guess some of the Grimm got into the house…or the White Fang figured us out._ " Yang thought. "Let's go." She said.

"What happened to you two? Why have your auras dropped?" Ruby asked as the sisters made their way through the forest, following the river back to the ocean, each step magnifying their already unbearable pain.

"Some Grimm began entering from the other side of the forest, behind us. We didn't notice. The White Fang retreated into their airships, so we were left fighting the Grimm alone. We've retreated into the pipes under the house and are making our way to the docks from inside." Blake explained.

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"I'm fine. The objective is awake and walking. But Weiss…" Blake tailed off.

"Weiss?! What happened?!" Ruby yelled.

"She's alive, but unconscious. She didn't notice the Death Stalker from behind her. Its' stinger stabbed her from behind under the right part of her ribcage, and threw her to the ground. While lying face down, it stabbed her again in the area between her right shoulder, right breast, and right collar bone. I cut its' stinger off, filled her injuries with bio-dust, picked her up, and told the target to follow me underground." She explained.

"Oh God…" Ruby whispered as tears began to swell in her eyes and started rolling down her face.

"We'll be there soon. You sure you're good, Blakey?" Yang asked.

"Yes. A few stitches and I'll be fine. The worst thing that happened to me was probably that gunshot." Blake explained.

"That's good to hear." Yang said as the sisters reached the ocean. They immediately began running in the shallow, ankle deep water toward the docks. "I can see the airship! Where are you three at?" Yang asked.

"We're waiting at the pipe's opening at the docks." Blake answered.

"We can see the docks…we're about a minute out." Ruby said.

Blake stuck her head out of the pipe and saw the two running in the distance. "I can see you two. The Grimm have noticed the airship and are following it to the docks. We'll only have one shot at this!" Blake said.

The airship lowered itself and was hovering right at the end of the docks. "C'mon. Go, go, go!" the pilot said.

Blake, carrying Weiss, walked out, raised Weiss above her head and laid her on the docks. She then pulled herself up onto the docks and offered a hand to the target, which he took, pulling him up as well. The target ran to the ship and boarded it. Blake picked Weiss up and ran to the ship, also boarding. "You guys need to hurry! I see the Grimm closing in!" Blake yelled over the airship engines.

Yang looked to her right and saw the field full of Grimm making their way to the docks. She aimed her good arm and fired her long distance flame slugs at the house and field. The house caught on fire, as well as much of the dry grass and hay in the field. "That'll slow 'em down!" Yang said.

"The second one of those things makes it to the docks, I'm taking off. You've got until then to get here." the pilot said.

"Dick." Yang said as she looked at her sister, who had clearly one thing on her mind: Weiss.

As they ran, they could hear the roar of Grimm getting closer. Some of the creatures had made it passed the fire and had even noticed to the sisters running. An Ursa had made its' way over to them, but a shot from the airship went clean through the beast's eye. "Good shootin' Blakey!" Yang yelled as they reached the docks.

"Shut up and get in!" Blake yelled back as yang fired downward from her good arm, propelling herself up onto the docks. Ruby used her semblance to seemingly teleport onto the wood and both ran to the ship. As soon as they boarded, the ship began to rise high into the air and accelerate. Ruby took no time running to Weiss' side and placing her head in her lap, crying the whole way. The wound close to her stomach was about three-four inches in diameter, and the one close to her shoulder was about two inches in diameter.

"We done?" Yang asked as they flew over the house.

Suddenly, a Nevermore flew out from the trees and grabbed ahold of the rear stabilizers of the plane. The creature began to flap its' wings, pulling the back end to the ship upward as it did.

"Fuck off!" Yang yelled as she fired her good arm at the creature, missing due to the shaking of the aircraft.

Without a moment's notice, an RPG went soaring through the air and hit the Nevermore on its' side, killing it. The explosion caused the airship to begin spinning out of control, causing Yang to fall backward into the ship and hit her head. Fortunately, the ship was hardly damaged by the blast and managed to reorient itself, however, a second RPG came soaring through the air coming right toward them. A shot was fired out of the canopy of the ship, not toward the rocket, but to the side, before exploding in the air. The rocket then began to head towards the explosion, going way off course, due to the greater level of heat the rocket was detecting; it was basically a flare.

Blake and Yang looked back at Ruby and saw her holding Crescent Rose in its compact-rifle form, with a glyph at the end of its' barrel. "Photon glyph." Weiss said as she looked out through the door with her head still on Ruby's lap and Ruby holding her rifle with her left hand.

"Flares are loaded." The pilot said.

Soon after, three more RPG's came flying out from the woods toward them. "Flares out. Flares out." The pilot said as the flares were deployed keeping each of the rockets from hitting them. When they were safely out of range, the pilot gave a thumbs up and said "Mission: successful."

With that, the simulation came to an end. The shield generators lowered and the false landscape they had just been in disappeared, replaced by the barren arena and an audience screaming their names. They realized that they were, in fact, in an airship, but not a military one. This was a normal transport airship that had been loaned to Beacon for the Weekend for the Hunt.

The airship landed in the middle of the arena and the girls stepped out, seeing the medical staff running toward them. They began to work on Weiss immediately, but before the medical staff could take them away, Professor Ozpin stepped up to the stage and spoke, "Congratulations, Team RWBY! This simulation took place in an area designed after an abandoned farm in the Mistral outlands. Hopefully, you fully understand how easy it is for a mission to take an unexpected turn. This simulation is so advanced, that even we did not know how this would transpire. To be honest, if this were a real mission, and there was a hoard of Grimm closing in on this location, we would not have sent an airship. We would have bombed the area, regardless of your presence. It sounds cruel, but, ultimately, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. As you know, our professors have been grading you on your time in the simulation earing you an overall average of 71%. You may have successfully completed the mission, but I am afraid that we have received no requests from any potential administrators to take you due to this mediocre grade. I'm sorry ladies, but unfortunately, you–"

"Pass."

Team RWBY's eyes went wide, the audience looked around, but Ozpin had his glare directly upon one man. Following his eyes, one by one, the audience found the source of the voice. He stood tall, his head held high, and his eyes focused on the group of girls in the center of the arena. He did not pause, nor falter, as he folded his arms across his chest the sun glaring off of his medals. The Knight-General.

"You pass…barely. But, that is not good enough and we're going to change it."


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : First, thank you all so much for the awesome feedback I got during the Hunt arc. I am so happy that you guys approve of my story. The next arc is probably going to begin soon, though, from the way it looks now, I might have to do a little time skip (not this chapter), much to my dismay. It won't be a large one, probably just a few weeks. I am only considering this since Team RWBY is going to be, more or less, out of commission for the duration of their healing process. I wouldn't think that would sound interesting to write (or read) about, but, if you disagree, and would prefer for me not to time skip at all, please let me know and I can probably take the time to write something interesting to fill in the weeks of healing. Basically, let me know how many fillers you want. Regardless of the time skip, I do still have a few more chapters in mind before I would even consider it as I need to tie up a few loose ends. :P Please leave me more reviews so I can make this the best story in all of the world…or at least the best story in my house.

* * *

"Yang! That's the second time; stop it." Blake lectured.

"I can't help it, my arm hurts like a bitch!" Yang said.

"I don't care. You can't hit the nurses just because the medicine hurts." Blake stated with Ruby nodding her head in agreement.

Yang sighed, "I don't need any–"

"Yes, you do. Shut up." Blake said as she glared at Yang. Another nurse made her way into Team RWBY's room, albeit with trepidation. "She won't be acting up any further." Blake explained to the nurse before shooting her eyes back to her partner. Yang is many things, some positive and some negative, but nevertheless, she always kept her word. "Yang, do not move until the nurses are done." Blake ordered. At the end of the Hunt, Blake's aura was at a higher level than Yang's, so Yang was doing everything that Blake said for that day, as per their agreement.

As the nurse began to put bio-dust into the wound and disinfect it, Yang's eyes shut tight. Every twitch that Yang made caused the nurse to become slightly defensive. Finally, the nurse finished with the cleaning and began to stitch the wound up so the bio-dust could work its magic. "Your arm should be fully healed within the next month or so. It depends on if you let it heal or not." The nurse said with slight sarcasm as she began wrapping the elbow.

"So what can I do with my arm?" Yang asked.

"Nothing until the doctor says otherwise." The nurse stated.

"But, I can't let my workouts fall behind!" Yang complained.

"You cannot use this arm. If you tried lifting anything more than a pound, the elbow would just get dislocated again." The nurse explained.

"Can't you make it go faster?" Yang asked.

"No." The nurse said.

"Damnit! This sucks." Yang said.

"Stop complaining. You should be happy that your elbow hurts more than your side." Blake said.

"Speaking of which: if you see any form of infection, like inflammation, swelling, or discoloration, head to the emergency room. Your body shows no signs of rejecting your new kidney, and your vitals are normal." The nurse explained.

"Since I'm sure she's going to go and exercise anyway, what places should she avoid working?" Blake asked.

"Ideally: all of them. But if she's going to anyway, don't work the right side of your body or any chest or ab exercises." The nurse said.

"You heard her, Yang." Blake said.

"Yeah, okay." Yang sighed.

"Have you heard anything about Weiss, yet?" Ruby asked.

The nurse checked her scroll and began reading through a few messages. "It looks like the surgery isn't finished yet, but everything is looking good so far. She's responding well to the blood transfusion; they've already removed about two inches of her large intestine, and they're currently replacing her liver."

Ruby began to comb her fingers through her hair and wipe her eyes from her crying. "Thank you…" she said.

"She'll be fine, Rubes." Yang said. The older sister grabbed a black marker to her right and drew a vertical line over her left eye, mimicking Weiss' scar. "I'm a Schnee! It'll take more than an ugly monster to take me down." Yang said in a surprisingly good Weiss impersonation causing both Ruby and Yang to chuckle.

"Okay, I have some medicine for all of you." The nurse said as she finished wrapping Yang's arm. "Pain medicine." She said as she gave each of the girls a bottle of pills. "Take two a day for a month, one when you wake up and another a few hours before bed. No drinking alcohol or operating machinery while taking them. It should go without say that there will be no missions or fighting until you're healed. If you still need more pain meds after the month, you'll have to schedule an appointment with your doctor." The nurse explained.

"Thank you." Ruby and Blake said, followed by Yang after a slight hit from Blake, as the nurse left the room.

"How are you, Blake?" Ruby asked.

"I'm fine. I'm more worried about you, Ruby. How are those burns?" Blake asked.

"So long as I have pain medicine, I don't even feel it. The shrapnel wasn't fun to get pulled out, but now that it's done, they're fine too. My arm is what's going to handicap me the longest, though." Ruby explained as she lifted her cast.

"First broken bone, Rubes. That's an important event…like popping your cherry!" Yang said.

"Yang!" Ruby pouted.

"I'll never understand how you two could have been raised together, attend the same school, and still have such conflicting personalities." Blake said before the room to their door opened revealing none other than the Knight-General himself.

"I hope you're feeling well, ladies." Sir Donovan said.

"Hell yeah." Yang said.

"I think she means 'Yes sir, I am. Thank you for paying for our medical treatment.' Or something like that." Blake said, getting a chuckle from the General.

"That's good to hear. I came here to begin your training." Sir Donovan said, causing the girls eyes to grow wide at his words. He then pulled out his scroll and a USB cord. "May I please have your scrolls for a moment." He said. The girls were definitely confused, but complied with his orders.

"Do you need Weiss' also?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, please." The General said as he gathered each of their scrolls and connected them to his own, one by one. "All finished. First and foremost, you'll need to access your email and find the form I sent you. After you sign it, you will officially be under my guidance; I will be your administrator. Secondly, I have added a few books to each of your scrolls. They will be marked 'other' in the 'textbook' category. I want you to read them and, yes, you will be tested on them. They may seem strange for you to read, but I assure you there is a reason. Finally, I have accepted a mission that requires my presence for up to three weeks. I have added my contact number into your scrolls as well; If you ever need anything, please let me know. Regardless of the time or reason, I am going to be here for you for the next four years…so, please do not hesitate to call me or shoot me a text."

"Thank you." Blake said while looking through her scroll.

"Yeah, thanks. How long are the books?" Yang asked.

"Really, Yang?" Ruby asked.

"What? I'm a fighter, not a book-worm." Yang stated.

"Well, throughout time, the best warriors have been skilled fighters AND brilliant strategists." Sir Donovan explained.

"Not all of them…" Yang mumbled.

"Yang. Read the books." Blake ordered causing Yang to sigh.

"Hmm. You don't seem the type to submit just because of a pretty face, Yang." The General joked.

"She bet a day of obedience for having a higher aura at the end of the Hunt. She lost." Blake said with a smug grin.

"It's probably a good thing that you won, Blake." The General stated. "Anyway, do you have any questions before I head back home to pack for my mission?" he asked.

"When can we begin signing up for classes?" Ruby asked.

"As soon as you sign the form I sent you; another E-Mail will be sent to you with a link for the Beacon student portal." Sir Donovan explained.

"And classes start in a month, right?" Yang asked.

"Yes. I should return before you have to start your classes and it will be at this time that I will test you on how much you've learned from these books." The General stated.

"Yes sir…and we'll be sure to tell Weiss the same." Blake said, the mere mention of Weiss' name causing Ruby to regress into her earlier worrying.

The Knight-General walked toward the door, stopping at Ruby's side. "She'll be fine, I'm sure." He said.

"You really think so?" Ruby asked.

"Don't worry. I wanted to train your team because of the potential I see in all of you. If I honestly believed that one of you wouldn't even be able to begin your training, I wouldn't have volunteered to be an admin." The General explained.

"Cool. Thanks." Ruby said, gaining a small smile followed by the doors to their room opening. The sight of a familiar snow white hair entering brought Ruby to tears of happiness. The young leader slowly stood up from her bed and walked over to her partner.

"Speak of the devil…" The General stated. "Told ya so…" he finished while looking at Ruby.

"Devil? Even Yang doesn't go that far." Weiss said softly earning a laugh from her teammates.

"Well, if she's in a good enough mood to make jokes, then I'd say the surgery was a complete success." Sir Donovan stated matter-of-factly.

"How ya feeling, Ice Queen?" Yang asked.

"I feel much better than earlier, that's certain." Weiss said. "How have you all been holding up?" she asked.

"I sustained the least amount of damage, so I didn't need much in the way of medical care. Just a few stitches, some antibiotics, and pain medicine." Blake said.

"Basically, my right half is broken, I got a new kidney, a few ribs broke, a concussion, a few bullet holes…uhhhh…other than that, I'm good. I'll make a full recovery, though." Yang said.

"That's good to hear." Weiss said as she looked to her right to see Ruby sitting next to her with her arms crossed on the bed and her head resting in her arms. It was obvious she had been crying from looking at her bloodshot eyes. Weiss took her left arm and combed her fingers through Ruby's hair and asked, "Ruby? How are you holding up?"

Ruby looked up, lifted her head, and began rubbing her eyes before speaking. "My right arm is broken, though it wasn't that bad…there won't be any permanent damage. I have stitches basically everywhere from shrapnel, and both of my arms are burned. I'll be fine, though…" Ruby stated.

"That's good, stop looking so down, Ruby. From what I've heard, we'll all be fine." Weiss said in a surprisingly uplifting tone.

"You'll be fine?!" Ruby asked immediately.

"Yes." Weiss said with a slight chuckle. "The wound in my upper body was almost completely fixed with bio-dust, and what couldn't be fixed with dust, was fixed with a graft. My lower wound was a bit worse; they removed five centimeters of my colon–"

"Hey, that nurse said that they removed two inches from your large intestine!" Yang interrupted.

"That's the same thing, Yang…" Blake said in an almost exhausted tone.

"Yeah, maybe I should put a middle school anatomy book in that scroll next." The General said.

"Oh my goodness, Yang." Weiss said after pushing her hair out of the front of her face. "Anyway, they also replaced my liver. They will have to take my vital signs every fifteen minutes for an hour. If my vital signs remain normal, then we'll know my body will accept the liver. Other than that, I received more bio-dust and another graft." Weiss finished.

Ruby began to wipe tears from her eyes again, "Thank…goodness…" she said in between gasps of air.

"Why are you crying? We'll be fine and we were successful!" Weiss said.

"But it was my orders that got you hurt…if I can't complete the mission and keep my team safe, what good am I?" Ruby wept.

"Ruby Rose, stop crying this instant. It was no one's fault that I got attacked from behind, except my own." Weiss lectured.

"But, I was the one that ordered Yang to follow me to occupy the soldiers. I let the Grimm through!" Ruby exclaimed as more and more tears began to flow. Ruby laid her head down and wept into her arms. Weiss placed her arm around her small leader and attempted to comfort her.

"I think we can all agree that there are things we need to improve upon. None of us got out of this unscathed." Blake stated.

"And that is what he is here for." Weiss said as she leaned Ruby's head over to see the Knight General. "Right?" she asked.

"Of course. And like I said, if you need any help or just want to talk, just let me know. Anytime, anywhere, any reason, I'm available." The general said as he continued to the door.

"Thank you, sir. We won't let you down…and I'll make sure that Yang does her work." Blake said.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks Knight-bro!" Yang said

"Thank you, General Donovan." Ruby said rather sheepishly.

"Indeed. Thank you, sir." Weiss said, still leaning her arm across Ruby's shoulders.

"Sir? General? Perhaps there is something you can learn from Yang…let loose a little. We're going to be spending a lot of time together and probably putting our lives in each other's hands. So, let's be on a first name basis, at least." The General said as he leaned against the rim of the door. "Name's Lionel. I look forward to working with you." Lionel said with a smirk.

His comments caused the three girls to start laughing. "How about the mask? Can we see what you look like, too?" Yang asked.

"Woah, sweetheart. You have to buy me dinner, first." Lionel joked. "But, in all seriousness, I wear the mask for a reason. The Knights hide who they are, not simply as a matter of tradition, but as a matter of basic principle." He added, almost intending for it to sound like a riddle.

"Principle?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, in fact, let's see if you ladies can figure out what that principle is. Why does a knight where a mask?" Lionel asked.

"Will that be on the test?" Yang asked.

"Maybe." Lionel said with a smirk. "Answer it correctly, and I'll show you my face." He finished,

"Cool. I'ma call you Lion, though. Alright?" Yang asked.

"Do as you wish…" Lionel said as he turned and walked through the door while waving his hand. "Good evening, ladies." He finished.

"Bye." The girls said in unison. As soon as he left the room, the same nurse from earlier came into to check on Weiss.

"I just need to check your vitals really quick, Miss Schnee." The nurse said.

"Give it to us straight. How long does she have?" Yang said, feigning sadness.

"Yang!" Ruby pouted.

"Well, according to her vital signs, she has quite a while, yet." The nurse said.

"See Ruby. No harm done." Weiss said causing Ruby to give her a smile.

"We will have to move you ladies later on tonight. This is our surgical recovery unit and we'll need this space for other people that come through here. As soon as we get the rest of your vitals, Miss Schnee, we are going to move yourself and Miss Xiao Long. of you to two separate rooms." The nurse said.

"That's fine. What about Rubes and Blakey?" Yang asked.

"Miss Rose can stay another night if she wants, but the doctor has given both, Miss Rose and Miss Belladonna, the okay to go home." The nurse explained.

"We can't stay together?" Ruby asked.

"No. Our patient rooms are one person only. We can have a cot brought into their rooms if you want to spend the night." The nurse said.

"Yes, please. Could you one in each of their rooms?" Ruby asked.

"Sure. Is there anything else that I can do right now?" the nurse asked.

"No, I think we're good. Thanks." Yang said.

"Alright. I have my nurse's contact number on the board over here. If you need anything, just give me a call." The nurse said as she pointed over to a dry erase board before making her exit.

"Well, I'm beat. I'm going to sleep until it's time for us to move to the new room." Yang stated as she laid on her good said and covered herself up with the sheet.

"I'll go and grab some lunch. Do you all want anything?" Blake asked.

"Can you get me a cheeseburger?" Yang asked. "Oh! And fries!" she added.

"I can't eat anything until tomorrow morning…but thank you, Blake." Weiss said. "I think I'll also get some sleep." She finished as she gathered her sheets and blanket.

Ruby looked at the faunus with her eyes downcast, "Thanks, Blake…but I don't want–"

"Ruby, you need to eat something." Weiss interrupted.

"I'm not really that hungry to–" Ruby's words were immediately cut off by her stomach's growling.

"Ruby, please don't torture yourself. You're not going to help yourself and I certainly don't feel any better seeing you like this." Weiss explained.

Ruby tilted her head down and covered her eyes with her hair. Blake saw that Ruby's hand was squeezing Weiss' tightly, "I'll bring you something to eat, Ruby. What would you like?" Blake asked.

Ruby shook her head, "No, you don't have to–"

"Get her a shrimp fajita." Weiss said, knowing that Ruby loved seafood.

"No problem. I'll be back later." Blake said as she slid the hair out of Yang's already sleeping face. She then turned to the door and left.

"I'm going to get some sleep as they come in here and get my vital signs. Try and do the same." Weiss said in a kind tone as she laid on her back. Ruby, still holding onto Weiss hand, laid her head in her arms and closed her eyes. "Dunce."


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : So, I'll plan on doing a few filler chapters and then skip to the beginning of the actual school year (a few weeks in this RWBY universe)…as well as the beginning of the girls actual training. Just a fair warning, I do start back school in about a month. By my calculations, there will be four more chapters (not including this one) before school starts back. I will still do my best to upload every Thursday evening, but school and work do come first. The only reason I think it will be harder this semester to keep up with my fic is because of the amount of work I will have to take home with me. There's going to be a lot of V/A editing I will have to do at home for videos in class. Still, I will do my best and I hope you guys bear with me.

Anyway, as always: Like, Favorite, and Sub– Oh, wait…wrong website.

Please drop a review so I can continue on my path to take over RoosterTeeth and rule the world.

* * *

"Excuse me, Miss Schnee?" a nursing technician said, waking the sleeping heiress.

"Again?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry." The tech said in a sympathetic tone.

"Is it really necessary to do this every four hours?" Weiss asked as she slowly sat up and held her arm out.

"Unless otherwise instructed, we have to observe your vital signs every four hours. It's not just you, but every patient staying in the hospital." The tech explained as she placed the blood pressure cuff around Weiss's arm and began to inflate the cuff.

"That sounds unbelievably tedious…what time is it?" Weiss asked after the tech had finished with her blood pressure.

"It is almost 7:30am. You may be interested in ordering breakfast…your blood pressure was 95/67, by the way." The tech answered while placing the thermometer in Weiss' mouth. Within a few seconds, it buzzed, and the tech read aloud, "96.8 degrees Fahrenheit. That would normally be considered low, however…"

"Yes, yes…it's normal for the 'Ice Queen'. I'm sure the brute next door has used that little term countless times." Weiss finished sarcastically, causing the tech to chuckle.

"She doesn't mean it in a negative way, I assure you. She actually speaks quite highly of you." The tech said as she placed a pulse oximeter on Weiss' finger.

"How so?" Weiss asked.

"Well, for one, she's impressed with your team coordination. She said that when she met you, she thought you would be to 'bitchy' to be able to work with and that you would 'bitch your way to leadership' as it were." The tech said as she wrote down Weiss' oxygen level and pulse. "Your Oxygen levels were at 100% and your pulse was 57." She said.

"Bitch my way to the top…that is how I was raised, honestly." Weiss stated.

"She explained how often you used your semblance in a supporting way, willingly…again, saying it is in direct conflict with you 'high maintenance attitude' or something along those lines." The tech continued.

"Definitely 'something along those lines;' she's a master at combat, but I doubt Yang could even spell maintenance." Weiss said, earning a giggle from the tech.

"You two are obviously a couple of friendly rivals. You both point out each other's flaws and acknowledge each other's advantages. She was most impressed how, due to your quick thinking, the Hunt was more or less successful because of you." The tech added.

"In what way?" Weiss asked.

"When you killed the first sniper and took his radio. Think of how much information you gained from their radio chatter. You learned about the airship, the time limit, you were given vital intel after the White Fang attacked, and you were able to trick the soldiers since you spoke their language…you 'played one of the largest roles in the victory', she said." The tech explained.

"Well, her beastly demeanor and unwavering determination were definitely noticed. When her partner was hurt, she took the battle into her own hands; when she dislocated a bone, she shoved it back into place; and when she was nearly sliced in two, she burned the wound closed and reloaded her weapons. Her willpower is probably some of the best I've ever seen." Weiss explained. " _I wish bravery came that easy to all of us…_ " Weiss thought, down casting her eyes, but going unnoticed by the tech.

"If only she could hear you now, she might actually smile." The tech said with a grin.

"Ugh. As if. She would never let me live it down, that filthy barbarian." Weiss said in her usual cold tone.

"You two are way more alike than you realize! You both are at odds, but secretly are friends…but if anyone points it out, you both get all defensive!" The tech said, almost laughing.

"Don't you dare insinuate that she and I are anything alike!" Weiss defended.

"Aww…they both even get flustered. They're so cute~" A tired voice said from next to Weiss.

Both Weiss and the Tech looked over to see the small leader of Team RWBY laying in a cot, that had been pushed close to Weiss bed, almost connecting them. They were sharing the same blanket and Weiss had let her borrow one of her own pillows. Weiss was about to scold Ruby, as she often does, but found that there was a suspicious weight on her right hand. When she looked down, she saw Ruby's fingers still intertwined with hers from when the young leader fell asleep the previous night. Ruby had been so worried with that idea that she caused her team to get hurt, she basically cried herself to sleep. Weiss did her best to comfort the young girl, for some reason holding her hand seemed to calm her down. " _She is still young, after all…_ " Weiss thought.

"Thank you for talking with me this morning. Can you please tell the nurse that I would like to begin lowering my pain medicine dosage?" Weiss asked to the tech.

"Sure. And if you need anything else, just let me know." The tech said as she exited the room.

"It's only been a day. Are you sure you want to start taking less pain medicine?" Ruby asked while rubbing her eyes. The previous night, the young girl had taken off her socks and boots, corset, shirt, skirt, and cloak, leaving her only in a black tank top, and black leggings…and Weiss took notice. She was so tired and sad the previous night, that she had neglected many things. She only ate because Weiss made her, she didn't shower, she's been forgetting her own pain medicine, she didn't even bother grabbing a blanket before going to sleep. Weiss knew she was inadvertently punishing herself for, what she perceives to be, her mistakes…and Weiss was not happy about it.

"Ruby! You are the one who hasn't taken any pain medicine." Weiss said.

Ruby pouted, "But I heal faster, and you–"

"No, Ruby. You cannot neglect your own health simply because your team is hurt." Weiss said.

"Is it wrong of me to worry about my team?" Ruby asked, leaning up and facing Weiss.

"Only if there is something to worry about. Blake only needed stitches and will be fine. I got a new bio-engineered organ, skin grafting, and stitches, so I'll be fine. And Yang got a freaking cloned kidney, a lot of bio-dust, and stitches too, so she'll be fine! You're the only one who I am not convinced will be fine, and the worst part is, you're doing it to yourself!" Weiss exclaimed.

"It's not fair, though! I heal faster than everyone else, but it's my fault everyone got hurt!" Ruby said.

"No, it isn't! Yang got hurt because she went Hulk Smash; Blake got hurt out of pure bad luck, and I was injured due to my own lack of self-awareness. How is that your fault?" Weiss asked.

Ruby sat up in bed, her left leg crossed under her right and her right leg extended straight on the bed. "I should have been prepared for everything, I should have–"

"No! That was the point of the simulation! You couldn't have been prepared for everything because the computer was actively working against us in every scenario! That's why our plans continued to fall short and our teammates kept getting hurt!" Weiss explained fervently.

At this point, Ruby was almost enraged at the idea that it wasn't her fault. "No! A leader should be–"

Ruby's head slung to the right, Weiss' arm extended with annoyance written on the heiress' face. "Ruby it is not your fault! If you would simply accept that, then you would feel so much better." Weiss said, retracting her arm. Tears began to slide down Ruby's face, causing Weiss' heart to ache with the force of an anchor. Weiss began to realize, however, that the tears were not from the slap she had dealt Ruby, but from something different altogether.

"I just don't want you guys getting hurt…" Ruby mumbled barely loud enough for Weiss to hear.

Finally, it hit her; Weiss understood what was causing Ruby some much pain. Weiss extended her arms again, but not for force, for comfort. She wrapped her arms around Ruby, bringing her into a warm embrace. Ruby's left cheek resting just above Weiss' bosom, and her body limp as she leaned against Weiss, tears still rolling down her face. " _She isn't mad that she caused our pain…she is worried that she didn't._ " Weiss thought. " _If it was her fault, then she could rectify it and stop it from ever happening again by simply bettering herself, both physically and intellectually. But, if it is not her fault, then there is nothing she can do to prevent it from happening again. She desperately wants to be the cause of our pain because she doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that, sometimes, bad things DO happen to good people for no reason._ " Weiss pondered. "You really are such a child…" Weiss whispered. "I'm sorry." She added.

Ruby said nothing, but simply slipped her left arm around Weiss' slender form and embraced her in the hug.

"Listen to me, Ruby: You have to let go. One of the main purposes of the Hunt was to show us how easy it is for things to go astray on a mission. If you really care about being a good leader, then you have to acknowledge that." Weiss said.

Ruby only nodded her head slightly in their embrace as a response.

"What if we are evacuating a village because of Grimm herd heading their way and I get stabbed by a Beowolf." Weiss asked, in a monotonous, yet sympathetic tone.

Ruby only clenched the back of Weiss Gown, with her left hand, as a response.

"What will you do, Ruby?" Weiss asked.

Again, nothing from the young leader but a few slow movements

"Ruby!" Weiss asked as she placed her left hand under Ruby's chin and lifted the young leader's head to face her. With Ruby's silver, bloodshot eyes looking up at Weiss and Weiss' Blue gaze penetrating Ruby's very soul, the heiress asked, "What will you do?"

"I…will continue the…m-mission…" Ruby said with a few sniffles in between.

"Will you let the villagers die because things aren't working out how you want them to?" Weiss asked.

"No. You…wouldn't want that…" Ruby whispered.

"Exactly. That is the right answer." Weiss said removing her hand from Ruby's chin, and pushing for Ruby to turn around, which she did meekly. She pulled Ruby back, resting her partner's head against her left collar bone, and crossed her arms across Ruby's stomach while resting her chin on Ruby's right shoulder.

"Thanks, Weiss." Ruby said.

"That's what friends are for." Weiss said.

"Friends?!" Ruby asked in excitement.

"Yes, friends. Assuming you wouldn't mind the 'bitchy Ice Queen' as an acquaintance?" Weiss asked sarcastically.

"No, that's what Yang thinks; I think you're a beautiful snow angel!" Ruby said in her usual childish attitude.

"Of course I am!" Weiss said sarcastically as she pulled out a laptop that she had Blake bring her the night before. " _I'm glad I called her about this, it'll make my time here more bearable, I suppose._ " She thought as she lifted the top and powered on the device that was now sitting on Ruby's lap in front of the two.

"What'cha doin'?" Ruby asked.

"I need to check a few E-Mails and then I figured we could watch a movie. Anything to help the time go by would be a godsend." Weiss explained.

"E-Mails? For who?" Ruby asked.

"A few business partners…and perhaps a new business venture!" Weiss elated as she saw one of her unread E-Mails.

"What business? Is your dad already throwing you to the corporate wolves?" Ruby joked.

"Well, no. But, I have had my own clothing line for a while…you get to know people when you're the heiress of the most successful energy company in the world. And now I've gotten request to perform at the Schneeschloss." Weiss explained.

"Schnee floss?" Ruby inquired childishly.

"Schnee. Schloss. It means 'Snow Castle' in Atlesian. Schneeschloss is the most popular theater in all of Atlas. There have been television awards, concerts, plays, and Operas." Weiss explained.

"Wow…and your family owns the building?" Ruby asked.

"No, I never said that. I'm fairly certain that the government owns the building." Weiss said as she began to glance over the E-Mail.

"But it has your name in it…did they name it out of respect to the Schnees?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby. Schnee means 'Snow' in Atlesian." Weiss stated.

"So your last name is Snow?!" Ruby elated.

"Weiss Schnee means 'White Snow.' And it's certainly not that big of a deal." Weiss said.

"But that's so beautiful!" Ruby said with a giggle.

"You are such a child. Anyway, I don't think I'll be able to make it there to sing, so I'll have to decline." Weiss said as she began to type.

"But wouldn't that be a huge honor? Shouldn't you try to make it?" Ruby asked.

"Not necessarily. It's a charity fundraiser and they only want me there to make themselves look good." Weiss answered as she sent the reply E-Mail.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"I've been injured, so they set up a charity fundraiser conveniently for 'Hunters that have been injured in the line of duty' or so they say. If they can bring a Schnee in to preform, it shows the world that they are willing to waste no expense on raising money, making them look good. And if I show up while injured, it shows the world that I am always willing to support my fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses, making me look good. It's a mutual lie told to the entire world…and only about a quarter of the money actually goes to the charity." Weiss explained with hints of sarcasm and much disgust.

"That's…wrong." Ruby said.

"Indeed. But that is the world of business and bureaucracy; it's evil and downright deceitful." Weiss said. "So, I will have no part in it anymore." She finished.

"I'm glad you're trying to do some good in the world. And you said that you're going to fix all of the faunus problems in the SDC, soooooo…I'm proud of you." Ruby said as she brought her arms behind her, pulled Weiss head forward, and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Ruby, please stop before I catch your sugar addiction." Weiss joked.

"Never! Join the Dark side, Weiss! Indulge! Be gluttonous!" Ruby said while poorly mimicking an evil voice.

"Ugh. Shut up, what movie do you want to watch?" Weiss asked.

"Frozen!" Ruby said almost immediately.

"Fine." Weiss said as she opened the browser, went to an online library of media, and purchased the song.

"You could have just streamed it from some third party website." Ruby said.

"Ruby Rose, are you admitting to partaking in illegal activities. Do you steal?" Weiss said playfully causing Ruby to downcast her eyes. "You never get good quality while streaming from third parties, anyway." She finished.

"It helps to be filthy rich, too." Ruby mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Weiss said while faking an offended tone.

"Nothing." Ruby said with a giggle before leaning back against Weiss, allowing the heiress to once again lay her chin on Ruby's shoulder.

"Just watch the movie, dolt." Weiss whispered.

* * *

"They seem to have calmed down." Blake said.

"Yeah, I figured Weiss would set her straight." Yang stated with her mouth full of a pot roast and turkey sub.

"Isn't that supposed to be her sister's job? And stop eating like a slob." Blake said.

Yang was about to protest before she remembered that she was still taking orders. They made that deal before their fight which was at about 11:15am the previous day…and it was currently 8:30am. She still almost three more hours of obedience to her new 'kitty overlord,' as Yang called it, much to Blake's dismay. "Yeah, but she needs to hear it from someone else. We grew up in a pretty secluded area; our house was in the middle of the woods. So, she only got to talk to people at school or on our grocery runs to town. It's important for her to bond with Weiss, and you, for that matter." Yang said.

"Has anyone ever told you that your grammar gets better when you're talking about friends and family?" Blake asked.

"Huh?" Yang asked with strips of meat hanging out of her mouth.

"Exactly." Blake said. "And are you saying you want me to go and talk to her also?" She asked.

"Yeah, but not now. I don't want you walking in on anything freaky." Yang said before holding her fingers in a 'V' shape, bringing them up to her lips, and sticking her tongue through them.

"That sounds more like you than her." Blake said jokingly.

"Hey, don't underestimate my lil' sis. When she has her eyes set on something, she won't stop until it's hers." Yang said.

"That depends on how straightforward she is…speaking of which: is there any particular reason why you're only wearing underwear?" Blake asked as she looked over to her partner who was sitting with crossed legs on her hospital bed eating a sub sandwich. Yang was only wearing a yellow sports bra, with the word 'BURN' spelled across the back in Black, and, what Blake assumed to be, a thong.

"Seduction." Yang answered almost monotonously.

"Nothing turns me on more than vulgarity, scars, and sloppy eating." Blake said sarcastically.

"That's why I'm perfect, babe…" Yang responded just as sarcastically as Blake, before finishing her sub in two more bites.

"Now C'mon, I didn't make this bet so we could play truth or dare. You got me for like three more hours, let's do something fun!" Yang said.

"Define fun." Blake said, crossing her arms.

Yang stood up, putting a lot of hip into her actions. "Something pleasurable. For us both." Yang explained.

"So, if you won the bet, you would have basically made me do something 'fun' with you?" Blake asked.

"Nothing you were uncomfortable with, but, yeah…basically." Yang said while maintaining her seductive demeanor.

"No, thank you." Blake said in as flat a tone as possible.

Yang raised an eyebrow and continued, "C'mon, kitty. Do you know how many people would kill for–"

"Do I look like those people?" Blake asked in a scolding manner. The face that Blake was wearing made it clear, to Yang, that she wasn't just playing hard to get.

"No, you're different, Blake. You've got, like, a really cool life story and you're a smart person, and strong and stuff. You've been through so much." Yang said, receding from her early actions and sounding meeker.

"Exactly. That's why I don't want it reduced to a trophy for you to claim. I recognized all the flirting a few days ago and I asked you sister about your previous partners…and how you drop them after just a few weeks." Blake said causing Yang to recoil.

"They were just for fun. Experimenting." Yang tried to explain.

"The faunus who used to be a terrorist isn't another experiment?" Blake asked.

"No. I actually like you." Yang said.

"So, you show it by trying to force me into a relationship." Blake said getting progressively more annoyed.

"No, I wouldn't have forced you to be in a relationship, I just think the whole obedience thing would have been sexy." Yang said.

"Yeah, 'you' thinks it's sexy. It's all about you, in a relationship." Blake said.

Yang began to stutter, "No, I would–"

"Yang! We've only known each other for about a week…if you want a relationship after such a short period of time, then you can't honestly be expecting more than sex." Blake explained. "I can't blame you, in that regard, since you're probably used to getting anyone you wanted using sex appeal. But, I want more than that. And I think you're still a bit too immature to understand that right now." She finished before starting to walk toward the door.

"Blake." Yang said from behind her.

Blake turned around to see that Yang had placed a shirt over her body. "Yes?" Blake answered.

"You're right, I'm sorry…" Yang said.

"That's a good first step. I forgive you, but I still need more time to get to know someone before a start any sort of relationship." Blake said.

"…you're right about most of it. I am immature, flirtatious, and you're not a trophy…but I still plan on claiming you." Yang said with a friendly smirk. "I just have to prove to you that I'm serious this time and that this relationship is worth it." She finished.

"Hmm…good luck, then." Blake said with a smile. "But if it were that easy to change, there would be no war." She stated.

"I didn't say that I would change, I'm still going to be the sexy badass I've always been, just not to other people. I'm just going to make YOU see me that way." Yang explained.

"You think you've got what it takes to claim my heart?" Blake asked playfully.

"Yes." Yang said before walking up to her partner and planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Y-Yang?" Blake muttered.

"And now I know for a fact I can win you over…people don't blush like that for no reason!" Yang said causing Blake to turn her head.

"Ugh. I'm going to see if Weiss and Ruby want anything to eat." Blake said as she opened the door.

"Alright, kitty. Don't be a stranger." Yang said as she turned around and laid back down on her bed.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : I'm sorry that this is one of my shorter chapters, but I've officially run out of things for me to write about (during this arc) and I have to move on. The next chapter will take place close to the beginning of Team RWBY's  
training. If you guys have any suggestions or spot any errors, feel free to let me know. I can't wait to start the next arc, because that's when shit gets real. Thank you for reading!

* * *

"Heya, where've you been?" Ruby asked cheerfully as Blake entered Weiss' hospital room.

"Just…out of town." Blake replied.

"Oh, yeah…that didn't sound secretive at all." Weiss said sarcastically. "And I'm going to need something better than 'out of town' as an explanation for where you've been the past three days." She finished.

"I was taking care of a few errands." Blake stated.

"Could you be any more cryptic?" Weiss asked while crossing her arms.

"C'mon Blake, we won't tell Yang." Ruby said with a pout on her face.

"W-what do you mean?" Blake asked.

"You obviously had some sort of fight with her before you left to do your 'errands' or whatever. You came into our room and asked if we wanted anything to eat, left, brought back our food, and then left again for three days…and you certainly weren't acting  
normal when you were talking to us, then." Weiss explained.

"We had a disagreement." Blake said.

"Obviously." Weiss stated while stretching her right shoulder the way that physical therapy had taught her how to.

"Listen, Blake, I know Yang can be a little pushy, but don't just run away. She likes you!" Ruby said before taking a sip of her Dr. Pepper.

"So she, evidently, told you what happened." Blake stated unsurprisingly.

"We are sisters…trust me, she doesn't hold back when she talks about her passions." Ruby said.

"With all due respect as my friend, Ruby, I don't appreciate being turned into a prize to be won by her. She might 'like' me, but that's not good enough." Blake defended. "And besides, aren't there more important things for us to be doing than going on  
dates?" She asked.

"Then you need to tell her that! And not accuse her of not caring about you…can't you see how rude that was?" Ruby asked.

"But, it only served to prove a point. Afterward, she joked about what I had said and still said she was going to try her best to 'get' me." Blake stated.

"You are a dunce. If you paid attention to her reactions, you'd know that when things start to go wrong, she immediately turns to humor. Or at least her futile attempt at humor…" Weiss explained.

"It's like her defense mechanism. She didn't want you to keep being mad at her, so she lightened the mood." Ruby said.

"That doesn't change her initial mindset." Blake said.

"What? That she obviously has feelings for you?" Weiss said in a condescending tone.

Blake sighed and look to the heiress, "Haven't I already explained why–"

"No. You told us what you think. When you asked me about her previous partners, I told you about them in the hopes that you would see the differences. Because I guarantee she has never lashed out and gone on a crazy killing spree for anyone, because they  
got hurt. Not a single person she's dated has gotten that much attention from her." Ruby explained.

"She got shot, stabbed, punched, and blown up because you got injured, and you said, to her face, that she doesn't care about you. I might be the Ice Queen…but that is cold-hearted." Weiss stated.

Blake simply stood in silence, obviously in thought. "It's just difficult for me to trust her based on her past endeavors." She said.

"I'm not sure how your previous relationships have been, but I get the feeling that you're not going to give anyone a shot at getting to know you because of them. You're judging Yang on how your past relationships have been and trying to rationalize it  
by saying that her past relationships are the problem." Weiss stated.

"I'm not trying to force you to give her a chance, that's not my place. But if you're not going to, tell her that, straight up and don't blame her for it, entirely." Ruby said.

"I…I-I'll go and talk to her." Blake said as she was about to turn and leave the room.

"Before you go, could you at least tell us where you went?" Weiss asked.

"General Donovan needed me to decode an intercepted message from the White Fang." Blake said.

"Were you able to do so?" Weiss asked.

"Yes. It said 'We've obtained the package. And we will begin our search for the Kraken…might as well get the hardest one out of the way first.' That was all it said." Blake explained.

"Why are they searching for a Kraken…that's one of the most dangerous Grimm out there. Do you know what it means?" Ruby asked.

"No. But General Donovan was very uneasy when he heard it. When I was on my way out, I realized I left my bow in the room I was staying in, on the ship. As I was heading back, I saw the General in the conference room, alone, looking into his cup of coffee…and  
I heard him whisper 'Please, please, not again…I don't know if I can handle it a second time.' But I don't know what he means." Blake explained with trepidation.

Both Ruby and Weiss stopped what they were doing and looked directly at Blake. " _The General is worried about something?_ " Ruby thought. There are many things that strike fear into a person's heart: dictators, corruption, weapons of mass destruction…but  
the Knight-General has always been a person to stand up in the face of danger. For him to be so shaken by a terrorist organization is something to behold.

"From what I remember from history class, General Donovan has had a pretty easy time as the Knight-General. There haven't been any great wars, rebellions, or crises during his short reign. I suppose something has happened to him in the past five or six  
years." Weiss said.

"How old's the General?" A familiar voice said from the doorway.

As the girls looked toward the door, they saw the sight of their blonde, boxing teammate. "Yang, how long have you been creeping on us." Weiss asked.

"Since the whole decoding a White Fang message." Yang replied as she walked to an empty seat. "Anyway, how old is the guy?" Yang said as she took her seat.

"He's 23 years old." Ruby said.

"Your borderline stalking-level knowledge of the Knight-General never ceases to amaze, Rubes." Yang said.

"If I remember correctly, all Knight-Generals are granted the title at adulthood. It only makes you wonder how much training they receive in order to obtain that title so early…but that's neither here nor there." Blake said.

"Indeed. When he gets back, we need to pry some more information out of him." Weiss said.

"And what makes you think he wants any help from a couple of students?" Blake asked.

"Well, he's obviously been asking for your help, a lot. And he offered to train us…surely that means that he sees something in us that he doesn't see anywhere else." Yang stated.

"True, but do you really think we are going to get enough training for us to help him with something that even he is worried about? He's been trained his whole life and is, definitively, the best hunter in the world…and he was hoping that whatever the  
White Fang are doing won't come to fruition because he doesn't think that even he can handle it." Blake explained.

"Then we'll just have to show him that becoming our team administrator was the best damn decision he'll ever make." Yang said.

"How very egotistical of you." Weiss said.

"Don't know what that means, so thanks!" Yang said. "Now, our training starts in a little over two weeks, so we should probably get started on those books he gave us." She finished.

"You haven't started yet? I've finished my first one." Weiss said.

"Same." Blake said.

"I'm halfway done…" Ruby said meekly.

"Ruby Rose, I told you to read three chapters a day, did I not?" Weiss scolded.

"What?! You guys have read one already?" Yang asked in surprise.

"Of course…you're way behind." Blake said.

"They're so boring…and why are one of the books about fencing…I use a scythe-sniper!" Ruby said.

"One of the books I've finished is about the 'art of espionage' or something along those lines. I think he gave us the books to help us understand what skills we're lacking. Fencing will probably help you understand how to be more fluent in your moves.  
The espionage book was probably because of my lack of self-awareness during the hunt…and that is a skill notorious for being used in spying." Weiss said.

"It looks like I got a book about fencing, also…and one for 'frontline tactics?' I wonder why?" Blake pondered. "There are a few other strange ones, too." She finished.

"Well, he did say that we would think that they were strange, but to read them anyway." Ruby said.

"True, but he had better have a good reason for all of this." Weiss said.

"He's the fucking General of the Knight-Hunters…I'd drink mercury if he told me too, because whatever he is doing is obviously working." Yang joked.

"Well, I'm going to go and continue my reading. Have you two been told when you'll be allowed to leave the hospital?" Blake asked toward Weiss and Yang.

"No, as of right now, I will be here until further notice." Weiss said.

"Doc said I'll be around for at least another week, probably more." Yang said as she stood up headed for the door.

"Oh well, I don't mind staying in here for a bit longer." Ruby said.

"You are so clingy." Weiss said playfully

"You two kids play nice now, ya'hear." Yang said sarcastically as she left the room.

"What does she mean?" Weiss asked toward Ruby.

"I think she wants you to stop scolding me and let me have some more cookies." Ruby whispered as she mocked a secretive tone.

"In that case…no." Weiss said.

"I'll be heading back to Yang's room." Blake said to no one in particular as her words had been drowned out by the bickering between the heiress and their team leader. Blake sighed and walked out of their room and knocked on Yang's open door.

"Heya' kitty." Yang said as Blake walked in.

"Yang, I need to talk to you." Blake said.

"What's on your mind?" Yang asked.

"I need to apologize about what I said a few days ago." Blake said.

Yang sighed, "What did Ruby say." She asked.

"She explained what I did wrong, but honestly, Weiss was the one that put it into perspective." Blake stated as she walked to the empty chair next to Yang's bed.

"I don't follow." Yang said while crossing her arms.

"It doesn't matter, the point is…I haven't had it easy and I have had a bad relationship before, one that I would rather forget about. And I misunderstood what your sister meant when she told me about you previous partners, so I began assuming things  
about you. Regardless, I want to apologize for how hard I was on you…so, I'm sorry." Blake said as seriously as possible.

"There's no need to apologize because everything you said wasn't entirely wrong. I was just thinking about myself, and I assumed that you wouldn't mind dating me." Yang said.

"This probably isn't what you want to hear, but I should at least be as honest as possible. I don't want to have any sort of relationship right now." Blake said meekly.

"I understand. Doesn't mean I'll give up…I just won't be so pushy and I'll let you fall in love with me yourself." Yang said.

Blake sighed, clearly annoyed with her partner's response. "You're right, I wasn't wrong about everything I said." She finished.

"Damn straight. This is who I am, and if I can't win you over with my amazing charms, then so be it…doesn't mean I'll start changing who I am." Yang stated.

"Fine." Blake said monotonously. "I'm going to head back to the dorm and finish my reading." She finished.

"That's cool…and tell us if you're going to leave next time. Doesn't take long to send us a text." Yang nagged.

"I will. You had better be ready when our training starts. I know I'll be preparing myself in between visits to the hospital." Blake said as she stood up.

"Visit every day…and bring cheeseburgers." Yang said as she opened her scroll to the textbook she was supposed to be reading. Upon seeing the amount of words, she could be seen visibly wincing.

"Only if you read that book. I expect at least four chapters a day or else I stop visiting you." Blake said.

"What?! Four?!" Yang exclaimed.

"Yes. And I don't want any slacking off. You read before anything else…no movies, video games, or texting until you've finished your reading." Blake said in a condescending tone.

"Fine." Yang said dejectedly as she waved goodbye to her favorite kitty faunus.

Blake waved back and walked out of her room, but stopped at Weiss' door. She glanced in and saw Weiss reading silently, and Ruby, laying on her stomach, looking at her scroll and glancing up to the heiress every so often. " _Well. I might have been mean to Yang, but at least I'm not oblivious to her advances like a certain Ice Queen._ "  
She thought. Blake pulled out her scroll, still not having been noticed, and sent a quickly sent a text to Ruby.

 **[B]: See anything that you like? 3**

Ruby's head darted up to the door, sending Blake a worried look. "Something wrong?" Weiss said having noticed Ruby's quick movement. Blake, however, had cleverly positioned her body, around the doorframe, to be out of Weiss' line of vision, but not Ruby's.

"Uhh…no, Blake just left and waved goodbye." Ruby lied.

"Well, you looked like you saw a Beowolf. Anyway, she could have at least come in and said goodbye to us." Weiss said as she went back to reading.

 **[R]: dont say a thing**

 **[B]: I don't think she's going to notice, otherwise.**

 **[R]: i dont wanna be weird**

 **[B]: I'm fairly certain she already thinks that. But, it's not my business, so I'll leave it alone.**

 **[R]: thx are u goin back to tha dorm?**

 **[B]: Yes. Make sure you read your books and get a bit of training in…as soon has you're fully healed, of course.**

 **[R]: i kno, weiss has been naggin me too**

 **[B]: Alright, I'll see you later.**

 **[R]: b safe**

"You sound like miss popular. I can hear your scroll ringing from over here." Weiss said.

"No, no. I was texting Yang. Anyway, I'm gonna start reading now." Ruby said.

"That's fine, but I want you to go out and train some more for the next few weeks. You said you'd be fully healed in the next two days, right?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah." Ruby answered.

"Good. I want you to train yourself, specifically in the area of hand-to-hand combat." Weiss said.

"Why in that area?" Ruby asked.

"I still remember our practice match before the Hunt. Whenever I managed to get you away from crescent rose, you would devote all of your energy to retrieving your weapon. Whereas Blake, Yang, and I would simply switch our strategies to a different form  
of combat. You cannot rely on your weapon all of the time." Weiss explained.

"Okay. I'll do it." Ruby said.

"Good. Now, have your finished your reading for today?" Weiss asked.

"Not yet." Ruby replied meekly.

"Don't sound so sad…I'm only doing what's best for you." Weiss said.

"I know…thank you, Weiss." Ruby said as she pulled up the book on her scroll.

"You're very welcome." Weiss said as she continued her own reading.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : Okay, here we are, just a few days before the start of Team RWBY's first year at Beacon. This will be the second arc out of potentially four. As always, your reviews are greatly appreciated; I love seeing what your guy's thoughts are regarding my chapters. After all, it's you people that catch my mistakes and give me better ideas for the story. Now, if you'll excuse me, I just got my ears pierced and I'm going to go and wash them again because I have an extreme obsession with preventing infection…courtesy of my job. :P

* * *

The forest was beautiful; leaves had changed color from a bright green to a dark maroon. There were a wealth of trees in the distance, at least 500 acres of land and all of it Grimm free. Unfortunately, there was something more important to be concerned with at the current time. " _Nothing works…absolutely nothing._ " Blake thought as she glanced through the trees. Suddenly, an explosion could be heard in the distance and a few trees could be seen falling down. " _I suppose she found the enemy…not like it will make much of a difference._ " She thought as she stood up and began running through the trees to the site of the explosion.

"Stay still!" Yang shouted as she cocked her gauntlets and fired a volley of hell-fire at her opponent. Nothing hit. Even when one of the flaming projectiles looked as though it was heading straight for its target, it seemed to phase right through and explode off in the distance. "What the fuck!?" Yang yelled as she disposed of her empty cartridges and reloaded her Ember Celica. She fired her gauntlets backward, launching herself forward with amazing force. Her right fist was pulled back, ready to strike, but as her metal-plated knuckles were but a few inches away, a hand simply pushed her arm to her left causing her to completely miss her target and stumble past. After just a second, she regained her composure, immediately turned around, and fired…but there was no one there. Before Yang could even sense her opponent's whereabouts, she had been knocked down to a kneel from a kick to the back of her knees, followed by a major force of aura pushing her entire body to the ground, completely immobilizing her.

As Yang was being held in place, helplessly, a glyph formed underneath their enemy, launching them upward. It didn't have much of the desired effect, however, since it took only a few backflips in the air before the enemy was safely standing on a tree branch. Yang took the time to retreat to her teammate in the forest. "Are you alright?" Weiss asked.

"My pride's been wrecked…" Yang stated between gasps of air.

"What did you expect from taking on the fight alone?" Weiss asked condescendingly.

"Don't know…but now I'm expecting a miracle or else we're not gonna win this." Yang said still looking at their opponent who was kindly waiting for them to make the first move.

"Guys, I got an idea…" Ruby said over the intercom.

"We're all ears, Rubes." Yang said.

"Each of you, go to opposite sides of the tree he is standing in." Ruby said. Both Weiss and Yang did so without hesitation, making sure not to get too close. "When he falls, get ready to attack…" she finished.

Ruby peered through her scope from a distance, taking note of the wind and range of her target. Her finger slid across the trigger as she lined up her shot, knowing that she won't get a second chance. She curled her index finger around the trigger as she watched the leaves in the wind. The leaves were shaking violently due to the strong gust of wind, but as soon as it passed, the leaves were almost completely still…and Ruby took her shot. The bullet screeched through the air, tearing through the wind and any unfortunate leaf that got in its way. The bullet came to a sudden halt right in its target…not the enemy, but the branch below them. It seemed to shatter like glass causing their opponent to fall to the ground. The second the girls heard a loud thud hit the ground, Yang and Weiss moved in.

"Eat this, bitch!" Yang yelled as she moved in from the enemy's right with Weiss attacking from their left. Yang's arm swung forward, just as Myrtenaster did, letting out a bellowing burst of fire from her fist. Myrtenaster's blade struck into the ground just as Ember Celica's flame coated the ground in soot. Once again, their target had dodged, but this time, in a predictable way.

They had leaped into the air, already preparing for the next attack. Before it could be delivered, however, the enemy felt a tug against their leg. "Weiss, now!" Blake yelled as she pulled on her ribbon which had been tightly knotted around their opponent's legs, causing them to be dangled upside-down. Without hesitation, Weiss activated two more glyphs around each of their enemy's wrists, pulling their arms outward from their body.

Ruby joined with her teammates on the ground and all looked up to their seemingly helpless opponent. "Ha! We gotcha'!" Ruby yelled as all of the ladies admired the target hanging upside-down, from the legs, in the shape of a cross.

Yang took no time loading one of her Pulse Slugs into Ember Celica, pulling her right arm backward, and taking aim. "Kiddie gloves are coming off, now…eat this!" she shouted as she unleashed the power of her greatest invention. The slug went flying through the air, and, as predicted, exploded on contact. Immediately following the explosion, the tension that was held on the ribbon that Blake was pulling on, to keep the target hanging from the tree branch, causing her to let go. All of the girls began to celebrate their victory as Yang placed her hands on her knees and let out a large sigh followed by labored breathing, "I can't…believe…we actually…did–"

"UGH!" Ruby grunted causing all of the girls to turn and face her. Yang's eyes grew wide and blood red as she saw her little sister gripping her belly in pain, tears rolling down her face, followed by her collapsing onto the ground unconscious.

Yang was enraged, "How the fu–"

"AHH!" Weiss screamed, once again, causing Yang and Blake to swing their heads toward her only to see the unconscious figure of their ice cold teammate, blood running from her mouth with noticeable swelling from her jaw.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Yang said as she and Blake got back to back, watching for any signs of movement. "This is ridiculous, my slug had to have hit or else it wouldn't have gone off." She continued as the girls continued to pivot in place to their right, monotonously turning. "This fucker gonna do anything or what…" Yang wondered aloud as she continued to pivot with Blake to her back. As she was moving, she was seeing the bodies of her unconscious teammates laying on the ground with each rotation of their pivot. Ruby laid on the ground, unconscious but still with her hands around her stomach from earlier, which enraged Yang even more. Weiss was lying unconscious with blood still dripping from her mouth, and her jaw beginning to turn slightly purple and yellow from bruising. Their pivoting continued until they had reached one full rotation and Yang saw something which both angered her beyond reason and scared her lifeless…she saw Blake's body lying unconscious with blood running from her nose and right eyebrow with swelling coming from right above her nose.

Yang, eyes red as fire and tears threatening to emerge, swung her body around to see who she was back to back with only to have a hand grasp her forehead. "You son of a bitch…" she whispered to none other than the Knight-General himself.

His eyes initially looked lifeless and devoid of care, until he spoke, "Rule number one: Never stop fighting until the battle is over." Lionel said as his eyes changed to a deeply caring and emotional look. He then sent a quick, powerful surge of his aura through his fingertips causing Yang to fall unconscious instantly and tumble to the ground. "If this were a real fight, you could have easily lost your friends…" he said to the unconscious girls.

Lionel scratched his head and began to pick up each of the girls, placing Ruby and Weiss on each of his shoulders and carrying Blake and Yang in his arms, the girl's arms and legs dangling from his body. " _And to think school starts back in just a few days and this is where they're at in their training…we've got a lot of work to do…_ " he thought as he trudged his way through the forest. "…work and dieting…" he whispered with a chuckle.

* * *

"Shit!" Yang shouted as she sat up from her previous sleeping position. She was laying on a couch which had another portion of couch protruding from the end of it in a perpendicular fashion forming the shape of an 'L'.

"Is that really necessary?" Blake asked causing Yang to look over to her partner who was sitting just a few feet away holding an ice pack to her right eye.

"You okay?!" Yang said as she stood up, only to stumble from her lightheadedness.

"Be careful…that attack I used takes a toll, mentally." Lionel said while sticking his head out from another room.

"And I'm fine…my forehead just hurts." Blake said.

Yang darted her head around looking for her sister next, only to see her still unconscious on the perpendicular part of the couch. "What about Ruby?" she asked.

"She'll be fine, she's probably just too busy dreaming about cookies to actually join us anytime soon." Weiss said from behind the couch Yang was laying on, also holding an ice pack to her cheek before walking over to the side of the couch Ruby was lying on.

"Did you really have to go that far, bro?" Yang slightly shouted so the Knight-General could hear her in the other room.

"I don't take training easily…if you don't have an adequate punishment for failing, you don't try your hardest to improve." He said from the other room.

"Besides…weren't you the one who said 'Being our admin will be the best decision he ever made' a few weeks ago?" Weiss asked sarcastically. "What's the matter, can't handle it?" she asked in a mocking tone as she sat next to Ruby and lifted the sleeping leader's head so she could slide her legs under to lay it back down on her lap.

Yang scoffed, crossed her arms, let her body fall back to the couch in a pouting fashion. "As if…I was the last one who got beaten, so you're not one to talk." She stated.

"Actually, it was entirely my decision who got knocked out, and I chose for you to be last to teach you a lesson." Lionel said as he walked into the room carrying a pot and two plates, all covered with lids.

"Which was…?" Yang inquired.

"Firstly, don't be so overconfident, and secondly, don't give up." Lionel answered as he walked over to the girls and raised the lid on the pot revealing a delicious smelling stew, stirring it with the ladle, and walking back to the other room, which the girls had figured was a kitchen.

"Overconfidence is part of my personality so I can't help that, but I NEVER give up!" Yang stated when she saw the Knight-General emerge from the kitchen again with five bowls and silverware.

"It's fine if you have an overconfident personality, but if you're overconfident in your actions and refuse to acknowledge the power others may have, it will only serve to be your downfall." Lionel said as he began to scoop out the stew into one of the bowls. "As for giving up, I recall you not doing a single thing, toward the end, when I grabbed you. I did not restrain you or otherwise impede the movement of your arms and legs…but seeing the bodies of your teammates had utterly taken the fight out of you and that is something that will get you killed every time." He said as he handed one of the bowls to Yang.

She took the bowl from the Knight-General and seemed to simply stare at it for a few seconds. "I know…I just don't want to lose anyone else…" she partially mumbled as she stirred her bowl of stew.

"Who are you referring to, if you don't mind my asking?" Lionel asked as again began to scoop more of the stew into another bowl.

"It's not important; I'm over it…but not giving up is important, and you're right…I did give up. I won't let it happen again." She stated still looking into the bowl.

"That's one of the basic signs of depression…" Lionel stated as he handed the second bowl to Blake, who took the bowl but was more interested in the conversation taking place.

"Excuse me?" Yang asked in a slightly annoyed, but mostly confused tone.

"I'm not saying you're clinically depressed…but I've learned a lot through the years. I asked you about something you obviously did not want to talk about and claimed that you're 'over it' trying to move the conversation somewhere else. If that wasn't enough, you then agreed with my criticism of your fight, without arguing, when your personality dictates that you would generally do the opposite." Lionel explained before grabbing a third bowl and stirring the stew around more.

"Seriously? I'm doing something wrong because I'm agreeing with you…not everything has a secret meaning." Yang said in a scolding manner.

"See? You're arguing with me now…because that's what you do when you're criticized. That's who you are." Lionel retorted as he scooped more stew into the next bowl.

Yang sighed, sat her back against the couch, and looked toward the ceiling.

"If you don't want to talk about something, that's fine, just say that. But you need to trust your teammates. Blake told you that she used to be a member of the White Fang…that kind of information can get her thrown in prison. But, she trusts her teammates – friends – enough to relinquish that knowledge." Lionel explained as he handed the third bowl to Weiss who, like Blake, took the bowl but was more interested in the conversation.

Yang continued to look toward the ceiling before sighing again. "Obviously, Rubes and I are half-sisters." She said as she glanced at her sleeping sister while still keeping her face pointed upward. "My dad married…someone…all I know is that it's my uncle Qrow's sister. Maybe they never got married…maybe it was a one-time thing, I don't know…regardless, I was born. And she just up and left…we don't know where or why. Like I said, I don't know how close my dad was to her, so I don' know if it hit him all that hard…but, I do know that I'm pissed off about it. I'm pissed because she didn't want anything to do with me and I just fucking lost her." she explained in a sad yet enraged tone, her right hand still holding the bowl of hot stew and her left lying palm-up on the couch.

Blake grabbed her left hand, "You can't seriously blame yourself for that. Maybe she wasn't ready for–"

"No." Yang said, releasing Blake's hand and placing her hand on her forehead, shielding her eyes. "My dad had saved up almost thirty thousand lien for when I was born…you know hunters aren't fucking rich. My birth was something that was planned and my mom just said 'fuck it' and left. I don't know why I care…I didn't even know her, I always considered Summer to be my mom. Summer, my dad, my uncle Qrow, and my birth mom were all on the same team in Beacon. So, when my birth mom left, Summer found out not long after and began helping my dad with taking care of me…" Yang said, tears swelling up in her eyes when she first said Summer's name. "…'cause she's just that fucking awesome." She finished as tears began to slide down her face.

Lionel, Weiss, and Blake were all listening quietly for Yang to continue. Blake Sat her bowl of stew onto the table before sliding closer to Yang and putting her arm around her shoulder. "You don't have to continue if you don't want to…" Blake said.

Yang began to sniffle and rubbed her eyes before shaking her head in response to Blake. "I'm good…" she said as she took a deep breath. "Summer helped My dad take care of me for about a year, then they got together…but, I don't think they ever got married. Nine months later and I had a little sister. But then, about three or four years after that, Summer left for a mission and never came back." Yang explained as she again glanced to Ruby. The mere sight of her sister sleeping peacefully made tears, once again, swell in her eyes. "I lost another person…I'm tired of losing people. I' always afraid that my uncle Qrow will go out on a mission and won't come back…now I have a team that I don't want to lose…and if I even think about the possibility of one day seeing a car drive up to me, watching two hunters get out, and tell me that Ruby is…I'd rather kill myself…" Yang bellowed as tears flooded from her eyes.

Blake said nothing but did her best to comfort her agonizing teammate. Weiss watched on, seemingly thinking about what Yang had said while subconsciously running her hands through Ruby's hair.

"Thank you for sharing that with us." Lionel said. "You are obviously concerned about your loved ones based on your past…I would even consider this a mild form of PTSD. Yang…use this passion to your advantage. I saw what happened during the Hunt when Blake got hurt. If you could somehow learn how to control that massive surge of energy, you would be a force on par with the Knights themselves." He explained.

Yang looked up and began to wipe the tears from her eyes. "But I don't want to have to wait for someone to get hurt for me to use that power…" she said in between sniffles.

"You don't have to…it's not like that power came from thin air. It's in there somewhere…you just have to learn how to bring it out. And I think you need to train in the realm of aura control. From now onward, Monday and Wednesday evenings will be a day for you to train your aura control. I will show you methods of meditating and a few techniques that require a specific amount of aura. Right now, you fight by simply unleashing a tsunami of aura through your body…but if you can learn to coordinate controlled amounts of aura into your punches and kicks it will drastically improve your skills…without changing your fighting style!" Lionel explained in a content tone, thus raising the overall mood of the room.

"I always figured that aura control is something I shouldn't worry about since I've learned to fight so well with just unleashing everything I have…" Yang stated. Her tears have stopped and she isn't sniffling anymore, but her eyes are still bloodshot.

"True…and for most that would be adequate. But you're not just a boxer. I've seen how meticulous you are when you train at the boxing gym. You want your moves to flow perfectly and to be able to move through the air with minimal effort. Most boxers are focused on making their strongest punches and kicks connect with their target, in order to do serious damage. You've moved past that, however…you already know that your punches and kicks will do unrivaled damage, so focus more on improving your technique. You treat boxing, and indeed fighting, as more of an art form." Lionel said with grace.

"I agree. I've seen how fluent your moves are and, with the right management, your technique can be improved upon greatly." Weiss said.

"And she's the one to ask if you need help with aura control and I'm not around to demonstrate. Those glyphs require a large amount of aura specifically managed in small portions." Lionel stated.

"Fine…if I can keep people safe I'll do anything." Yang said in a serious tone before sending a smile out to her friends.

Blake smiled back before removing her arm and picking up her bowl of stew. "If you even need to talk, we're here for each other." She said.

"That's the thing about fighting for the ones you love…it makes you stronger, which, in turn, makes them stronger. But don't forget the most important rule about being on a team: one person can't do everything…" Lionel said as he picked up on of the plates and removed the lid to reveal a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. "…so if you each protect one-another, then there is nothing to fear." He finished before placing the tray of still hot cookies next to Ruby's face.

"Cookies!" Ruby shouted as she sat up from Weiss' lap. Just as she was about to reach of one, the Knight-General pulled the plate away from her. "Awwww…" she pouted.

"I can't let you spoil your lunch." Lionel said as he placed the lid back on top of the plate of cookies and sat them down on the table. He then picked up the fourth bowl and began to scoop out stew for Ruby. "How are you feeling, Ruby? Did I punch you too hard?" he asked mockingly.

"No." Ruby scoffed. "…you just caught me off guard." She lied causing each of her teammates to let out a giggle. Ruby glanced at each of her teammates and noticed the bags of ice but was more concerned with her sister's bloodshot eyes.

"Yang, are you okay? Your eyes are red…and not the 'I'm gonna kick your butt' kind of red." Ruby inquired as the Knight-General handed her a bowl of stew.

"Yeah, his attacks just pack a punch. It actually caused me to cry a little bit." Yang lied.

"What can I say…I need to learn to watch my own strength…" Lionel said sarcastically as he slid the last plate in between everyone and removed the lid revealing a plate of garlic bread to go with the stew. He then proceeded to pick up the last bowl and fill it with stew.

"Thank you for the food." Blake said before taking a spoonful of the food with a bite of the bread. Despite how long the food had remained uneaten, it was still very hot.

"Yeah, thanks." Yang and Ruby said followed by Yang cramming her mouth in her usual Yang fashion.

"Ugh, do you have to eat like such a barbarian?" Weiss asked rhetorically before turning her attention to the Knight-General who had just finished filling his bowl. "Thank you for the food. I'd hate to be a bother, but it looks like vegetable stew…may I ask what is in it?" Weiss asked.

"Don't worry…I've read your file, I made it with beef broth instead of vegetable broth and there are carrots or onions." Lionel said.

"You don't like that stuff, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"No, I come from northern Atlas. Our bodies, that high north, have adapted to do without high levels of Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 comes from soil that uses fresh water…and since Vale is in such a tropical location, there is a lot of rainfall making all of the vegetables farmed here high in B12. It's normally fine, but onions and carrots accelerate B12 absorption which can make me very ill." Weiss explained before taking a bite of her food.

"Nerd!" Yang said with a mouthful of food.

"Oh, hush you insufferable brute." Weiss retorted.

"Well, at least you're all such good friends…" Lionel said as he took his first bite of food. "School starts the day after tomorrow, so I'll let you have tomorrow and your first day of school off from training so you can get used to things. But I want to see you all here immediately after school on Tuesday, understand?" Lionel asked causing the girls nodded their unison before going back to their food. "That's when the real training starts…" he finished causing each of the girls' eyes to go wide with worry.

" _I got my ass kicked for a warm-up?_ " Yang thought…her teammate's thought not being very different.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : Hopefully the story is progressing to your liking; I'm really starting to get into writing this part of the story since I'm now setting everything up. Though I have most of the main plot planned out already, there are still a few things I know that I need to elaborate on in the future. Let me know if you think there is anything that I can do to improve the story. Love you guys and gals, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

"Ozpin, I told you that we need this information." Lionel stated firmly.

"Does it mean enough to you that you would endanger the lives of your students?" Ozpin asked monotonously.

"To be perfectly honest, I would risk anyone's life for the chance to stop the White Fang. But, it's not like I'm going to send them on a suicide mission…and I'll be there with them." Lionel explained.

"Why have you become so obsessed with the White Fang? Since I sent you to protect that cargo ship, a few weeks ago, you've been different. You've been more cautious and careful…and while that is commendable for a normal soldier, for you, it is out of character." Ozpin noted.

"Because the White Fang are messing with things…they know nothing about." Lionel said, the last part of the statement dropping to a depressing tone.

"That makes two of us. Why don't you tell me what is so important about the preservatives?" Ozpin asked.

"It's not the preservatives…it's what they're doing with them." Lionel asked before hearing the elevator open and turning his head to see Glynda.

"Good morning, Glynda." Ozpin said.

Glynda said nothing as she walked over to Ozpin's desk and slammed down a report from their intelligence agency.

"What is this?" Ozpin asked as he picked it up and read through the papers before handing them to the Knight-General.

"Well, at least they failed this attempt…" Lionel muttered.

"I've become considerably more interested given that the White Fang were apprehended attempting to obtain DNA samples from a Kraken." Ozpin said. "So this is what they are using the preservatives for? Why do they need a Kraken's DNA?" he asked.

"You don't need to concern yourself with that. Just help me stop them from getting what they need…they're messing with power that they can't control." Lionel said.

"And, to that end, you need my students for a mission in a few months? They've only been training with you for a few days now." Ozpin objected.

"I chose them because of their potential to learn quickly. Besides, this is not going to be some kind of all out Knights-only mission…this is a public bounty in which the location happens to line up with a place I need to go to obtain information. They could have easily requested this mission on their own." Lionel said.

"Which brings up questions regarding the opposite extreme. Why are you giving them normal missions if they're getting trained by you?" Ozpin asked.

"You're asking questions that I'm not allowed to answer. What do the preservatives do? Classified. Why do the White Fang need a Kraken's DNA? Classified. Why do I need Team RWBY for a mission? Classified. Are you satisfied with those answers?" Lionel said sarcastically.

"You're 'not allowed?' Who is stopping you, might I ask?" Glynda asked.

"Myself." Lionel stated. "This is something incredibly difficult to stop. They've set something in motion…and if word gets out, it will cause mass panic, again." Lionel said in a half panic, though it probably came off more as annoyance.

"Again?" Ozpin said raising an eyebrow.

"Damnit, Ozpin." Lionel said with a sigh. "Please, just continue to provide surveillance and intelligence. This is not something that you, or your allies, can hope to stand against." Lionel stated.

"And you need four children to accomplish this?" Ozpin said with disbelief.

"The younger you are, the more neuroplasticity you have. They have already learned to coordinate their skills with one another." Lionel said as he pulled down his face mask slightly, revealing a vertical cut on his cheek. "During our first training session, they had me sandwiched leaving me no room to run…so I jumped up. But I wasn't fast enough and Weiss' Myrtenaster got a quick cut in on me." He said.

"So that proves that they are ready for a war?" Glynda asked.

"In just over a month, they've learned how to read each other's moves to the point of operating like a machine. Though there is definitely improvements to be made, I haven't seen people capable of that in a LONG time." Lionel said. "When was the last time were able to injure the Knight-General? As I recall, your 'inner circle' was completely outmatched in every conceivable way. Trust me, they can handle this." He finished.

"You aren't seriously trying to argue that since we were beaten by your father, that we would do just as bad against you?" Glynda stated in astonishment.

"That's more-or-less correct." Lionel said with a straight face.

Glynda was enraged, "You impudent child! What you need–"

"The bottom line is that they are going to come with me on this mission. We are going to stop the White Fang from getting these DNA samples even if it means killing every Kraken in all of Remnant." Lionel stated.

"We won't allow this!" Glynda said.

Ozpin sighed. "Indeed…we will fight tooth and nail to keep them safe. But I suspect that our pleas will be overridden…" Ozpin said as he looked up at the Knight-General. They were both thinking the exact same thing.

"If it comes down to it…I will invoke the Rite of Impressment." Lionel said without hesitation.

"What?! But this isn't another Grimm War! The Knight-Remnant Act states that you can only conscript people in light of another Grimm War." Glynda argued.

"That is Article Four, Section One. In Article Four, Section Seven, it states that I am allowed to invoke the 'Rite of Impressment' if the Knights face a Grimm-related threat to the security of any nation. This Rite may only be used in the event that said nation would be unable to adequately defend itself for any reason. How well a nation is able to defend itself is left to the discretion of the Knights by majority rule." Lionel said monotonously.

"So you honestly believe this threat is great enough that Vale cannot defend itself?" Ozpin asked.

"This threat is great enough that the even Remnant cannot defend itself." Lionel countered.

Ozpin took another sip of his coffee and glanced to the Knight-General, "The Knights have historically looked down upon the Rite of Impressment. There have only been six recorded cases of there being a majority rule in favor if conscripting anyone to help the Knights. And you believe that they will agree to use children as–"

"Enough with the whole children thing, Ozpin…look me in the eyes and tell me that they aren't the Saviors of Remnant. You've seen their eyes…it's them." Lionel said.

"I suspected it, but part of me always believed that it was a myth." Ozpin said.

"Trust me, Ozpin…most of the legends that we hold dear are not as ridiculous as we may believe." Lionel said.

"They're the Saviors…?" Glynda asked.

"I believe so. They raised Remnant out of the ashes before…now they will raise her to a higher plane of peace and understanding." Lionel said.

"Do you have any other proof?" Ozpin asked.

Lionel sighed. "Not right now…I just see far too many similarities for them to not be the saviors. Think about how they act: Blake is the exemplar of justice and equality; Weiss demonstrates intelligence and mannerism; Yang exudes passion and determination; Ruby is the paragon of peace and kinship. They learned to fight together abnormally quickly…almost as though they've done it a thousand times before." Lionel remarked.

"Indeed. I just find it hard to believe is all…don't you think there is the possibility of the records being wrong? Maybe we are only seeing these traits because we want to…" Ozpin said trying to rationalize.

"That is certainly a possibility…but I'm not going to sit idly by and wonder if they the ones or not. I have seen evidence which compels me inexorably towards the affirmative conclusion." Lionel said as he stood up and pulled out his scroll and sat it on the table. He pressed a few buttons before many holograms began to light up. One by one, the holograms began to take the appearance of people…of Knights. He was calling, from the looks of it, every Knight in Remnant.

Lionel pressed a few buttons on his wrist-mounted computer, "I've sent you all any information regarding our current predicament. I have reason to believe that these four ladies are the reincarnation of the original Saviors of Remnant, and I request a vote to conscript them via the Rite of Impressment." He said causing a few murmurs as each of the 407 Knights read through the information they received.

"Has this information, regarding the White Fang, been vetted?" One asked.

"By intelligence agencies in Vale, Mistral, and Atlas, as well as our own." Lionel responded.

"You don't think they're too young to begin they're training?" Another asked.

"Weren't we younger?" Lionel asked.

The Knight raised an eyebrow, "True…but we're Knights, so–"

"Let's not pretend that we're born with any form of superior power…we all know where our strength comes from." Lionel said causing many glances around and whispering. "These ladies have been able to injure me on their first training session…while I was using my semblance." He said which made all of the Knights stop look toward the Knight-General who was revealing the scratch on his cheek.

"…w-while you were using your semblance?" one asked.

"Yes." Lionel affirmed causing eyes to grow wide with amazement. "I ask again, all in favor of conscripting Team RWBY to aid in our quest, please raise your hand." He ordered.

After a second or so of looking around, one by one, each of the Knights began raising their hands until not a single person opposed the directive. "Thank you, that will be all." Lionel said as he ended the call.

"I suppose that settles it…" Ozpin said. "Just keep them safe." He finished.

"I don't intend to interfere in their current life too much. I want them to enjoy their childhood, but I will make sure that they are prepared for the future." Lionel stated.

"To be clear, these girls will not become Knights at the conclusion of all this…correct?" Glynda asked.

"If they do turn out to be the Saviors of Remnant, I don't see any reason why the Order of Knight-Hunters won't make an exception to grant them Knighthood." Lionel said causing Glynda to give him an evil glare. "Regardless, it will not be a requirement. If they have the option to become Knights, it will be their choice to make." He finished as to calm the scathing woman.

"Very well. What is the mission that you will be taking them on?" Ozpin asked as he awoke his computer.

Lionel pulled out a small, ripped piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. "Operation 01-3761-6884-A6. It will be in, hopefully, three months' time…though, that is subject to change." He stated.

"I have marked the mission as in progress." Ozpin said as he rose from his chair and extended his hand to the Knight-General. "I certainly wish that you would allow us to help you in your endeavor…but if this is something that must be done in secret, I wish you luck." He finished.

"Thank you. And I would ask that you not tell them the actual reason for their conscription, yet. For the time being, I will simply tell them that it offers more freedom for training missions." Lionel said as he shook Ozpin's hand before turning around and heading for the elevator.

"Please, just keep them safe. They deserve better than this…" Glynda said as Lionel entered the elevator.

"I know…and I will." Lionel said as the doors closed.

* * *

"Yang! Do you even know what the Pythagorean theorem is?" Weiss bellowed.

"Yeah, you need it for triangles." Yang responded.

"What is the equation for it?" Weiss asked with cockiness.

"Uhhhh…A plus B plus C?" Yang said in an inquisitive tone.

Ruby let out a chuckle while sitting on her bunk, from across the room. Blake had her head buried deep in her book, but even hearing something like that pulled her out of her fantasy world in order to send a smirk toward her teammate.

"Shut up, Ruby!" Yang said as she threw a pillow at her sister, which nailed her right in the face, knocking her on her back.

"Don't throw things, you brute! The Equation is A-squared plus B-squared equals C-squared." Weiss said.

"Why don't you guys have to do this?" Yang whined.

"It's called the learning standard…the Board of Education came to an agreement with the four Hunting Academies regarding baseline knowledge for admittance. Since this school doesn't teach any math, literature, science, or anything else of the sort, we have to prove that we know our general education." Blake explained.

"But, since you didn't pass your general education exam, you almost weren't allowed in; they only let you because of your skills. But you still have to take remedial classes and retake the exam at the end of the year." Ruby continued from where Blake left off.

"But I only failed the math portion…" Yang said.

"That's why standardized tests are stupid; they don't care about what area you're lacking in, so long as the overall score is a passing one." Blake responded.

"So stop whining and focus on the task at hand…before you get kicked out of the school." Weiss said before hearing a knock at the girls' door.

"Thank Remnant…" Yang muttered as she stood up and walked to the door.

"Hello~" Yang half sang as she opened the door revealing the Knight-General. "Hey, what's up?" Yang asked.

The Knight-General glanced at Yang, sighed, and looked back down the hall. "Seriously?" he said to Yang while still looking away.

Yang wondered what he meant for a moment before looking down at herself, remembering that she was without a bra and only wearing a tank top and panties. "Like what you see?" Yang said sarcastically.

"How old are you?" Lionel asked.

"Seventeen." Yang responded.

"Then, no, I don't like it." Lionel said jokingly. "Please close the door, make yourselves decent, and reopen the door…we need to talk." Lionel stated.

"Kay, one second." Yang said as she closed the door.

" _She's going to get me arrested…_ " Lionel thought with amusement.

The door then reopened, "I'm sorry you had to see that cow in such a manner." Weiss said.

"At least I have some udders!" Yang said from the bathroom.

"Shut up, brute, or you can figure out the math on your own." Weiss retorted earning only silence from the bathroom.

"You may come in, sir." Weiss said as Lionel walked in, grabbed a chair from one of the desks, and sat down right as Yang emerged from the bathroom with a sports bra replacing her tank top and a pair of boy shorts. She walked over to Blake's bed and sat down next to her before Ruby jumped from her bunk to her teammate's.

"First, who knows what the Rite of Impressment is?" Lionel asked.

Without surprise, Ruby's hand shot up within just a second. "It allows you to draft people to help the Knights." She said.

"Aren't their parameters to do so, however?" Blake asked.

"Yes." Lionel said as he pointed to Ruby. "And yes." He said again, looking at Blake this time. "Put simply, I can conscript people if: there is a considerable Grimm Threat and the there is a majority vote within the Knights." He explained.

"So…?" Yang droned.

"I have conscripted Team RWBY." Lionel said causing the girls' eyes to widen and stare blankly at the Knight-General…all except for Ruby who was barely unable to contain her excitement.

"Thisissocoolwhenwillwestartwhatarewedoing?!" Ruby shouted.

"Calm down, Rubes. I kind of want to hear more…" Yang said as she tapped her sister on the shoulder and kindly pushed her back to the bed.

"Indeed. What Grimm threat are we facing?" Blake asked.

"Well, I'm kind of twisting that one for my own gain…well, your gain too." Lionel said as he crosses his legs. "You see, since the White Fang is harvesting Grimm DNA, I'm assuming they are going to be doing something malicious with it…because I highly doubt they're doing it in order to develop a Death Stalker anti-venom." He said.

"So why do this if the only threat is the White Fang?" Weiss asked.

"For one, they are a menace to society and need to be taken down. And it seems the Kingdom's of Remnant are still not taking them seriously. Two, both yourself and Blake have business to settle with the White Fang…correct?" Lionel asked, earning a nod from both girls. "Third, being conscripted gives you much more freedom during your missions and intel gathering as well as giving me more freedom to push you harder." He finished.

"So, this really is a way to help us improve our skills?" Blake asked.

"Yes. Don't think it will be all training, however. Some of the missions you will go on will have extra objectives and different directives. Which leads me into the second reason I'm here. I have scheduled for Team RWBY and myself to go on a mission in roughly three months. The main objective is straightforward enough: clear a Nevermore nest. However, there is also a potential White Fang outpost disguised as a cargo ship that passes through that area. We will be raiding the ship, as well, in order to hopefully learn why they need so much Grimm DNA." Lionel explained.

"Hell, yeah! We get to kick some real-bad-guy-ass!" Yang said.

"And this is already scheduled? Do you have a specific date?" Weiss asked.

"That's the thing, it is scheduled to pass back through on November 14th. However, since it is so far off, there is a possibility of the being ahead or behind schedule…so we'll have to play it by ear in terms of the specific day. I'll be keeping you updated as I learn new things about the mission." Lionel stated.

"Sounds good to me." Ruby said with a huge grin.

"I agree; getting some payback will be quite enjoyable." Weiss said.

"A cargo ship outpost…this might be outdated information, but trying searching for Romanov Synther. She was the Lieutenant in charge of handling the cargo and most major transactions." Blake stated.

"Thank you, I'll see if I can get a hit in our network." Lionel said as he typed the name into his scroll. "That was all I had to talk about…and Ozpin does already know about the conscription. You will still have to maintain your grades, however…I gave you more work, not so you can slack off, but because I believe you can handle it all." He said as he stood up and slid the chair back to the desk before walking back to the door.

"We'll be ready; don't you worry about it." Yang said with confidence as Lionel walked through the door.

"Thank you for this opportunity, we'll do our best to help stop the White Fang." Blake said as she closed the door.

Lionel smiled as he waved goodnight to the ladies as the door closed. " _If I'm right, you'll do a lot more than help…_ " he thought as he began to make his way back to his house.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

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Author's Note: Just so you guys and gals know, school does start back for me this Monday (as I'm sure it does for many of you, too.) I didn't have much of an issue uploading chapters at the end of last semester when I started this story, so I don't anticipate having any major time dilemmas. But, just for the record, if something crazy happens and I have to choose between writing a chapter and school or work, I'll have to choose the latter. I don't see it happening, but if I break from the usual Thursday upload schedule, that will be why. Enough of that...I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

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Yang was mad. Her eyes were blood-red, but she had them closed and was crossing her arms in some futile attempt to calm down. She wasn't about to step in because even she knew this was for Ruby's own good. Both her, and their uncle, had told Ruby about her major fighting flaw, but only the Knight-General was doing what was necessary to help her.

Ruby threw another punch toward the Knight-General while using her semblance, but, again, he evaded it with ease by simply pivoting his body to the right. As soon as Ruby flew past him, he grabbed the back of her neck and threw her into a tree. "Getting tired yet?" he asked.

Ruby didn't answer but instead vanished in a flurry of rose petals before appearing behind him and attempting to kick him in his right side. He caught her foot, lifted her up allowing her to hang upside-down, swung her overhead, and slammed her into the ground. After not moving for several seconds, Lionel knelt down and placed his hand on her back. He sent a pulse of his aura through her body which caused her to awake with a jolt.

"I'll go and train some more…" Ruby said while finally admitting defeat.

"Good. Because if you ever get into a scenario like this in a real fight, and you don't have your weapon, you will need to be well versed in hand-to-hand combat." Lionel explained.

"Yes, sir." Ruby replied.

"Perhaps next time you won't turn your nose up at his suggestions." Weiss stated.

"I just always thought that, if it happened, I'd be fine without my weapon. I would still attack with my semblance and I'd win." Ruby explained in a childish way.

"Sorry, Rubes, but that's not how it works." Yang said.

"Now Ruby, you need a lot of help in the melee department, and we'll make sure to get that sorted out." Lionel said before Ruby nodded her head in agreement. "Yang, I've already explained to you that most of your problems are either mental or focus based. Learn to channel your aura better and you'll be good." He said casually.

"I got it covered." Yang replied.

"Blake, while your specific fighting style is perfected far better than your teammates' fighting, I've noticed a serious flaw in your mindset while on the battlefield." Lionel said causing Blake to give her instructor undivided attention. "You go lone wolf far too often. During our training you ran off on your own before planning to trap me with your ribbon…and that was Ruby's idea. During the hunt, you chose to stay back and use a sniper rifle instead of going with your team. While I understand that you're used to working in the shadows and operate as a spy, we're a team. You can't make that decision on your own…if the mission calls for it, then that's fine, but you need to be in an understanding with your team." Lionel explained in a serious tone.

Blake sighed. "Yes sir, I understand. I will make sure that it doesn't happen again." she said with a saddened tone.

"Don't like criticism?" Lionel asked.

"I'm angry at myself for making such a stupid mistake." Blake said.

"It's not stupid. Like I said, your particular fighting skills are the best out of your group's skills and you have the most experience. You analyzed the situation and figured that what you did was the best course of action. All I'm telling you is that it isn't your decision to make, it's a group decision. If your teammates agree that it is the best course of action, then by all means, go for it." Lionel said kindly.

"Yes, sir." Blake stated.

"You guys aren't going to drop the 'sir' are you?" Lionel asked in a joking tone.

"Thank you, Lionel." Blake said with a chuckle.

"Lion sounds better." Yang said.

"Both are fine with me…just drop the 'sir' before I start getting arthritis and drawing social security." Lionel said causing the girls to laugh.

"We should probably head back to our training." Yang said.

"That's fine. But I need to speak with Weiss for a moment." Lionel said causing Weiss raise an eyebrow. "Follow me, please. The rest of you have PT until lunch." He finished.

"So, what are my flaws?" Weiss asked after they were no longer within earshot of the rest of her team.

"To be honest, you're pretty well-rounded. You're a strong fighter; you have some experience, albeit less than Blake; you know when to follow orders; you even have some of the most advanced technology and dust available to you." Lionel explained as they made their way to the porch.

"But…?" Weiss droned as they both sat down on the stairs leading up to the porch.

"But…you're careless and that causes you to make mistakes." Lionel said as he clenched something in his hands.

"I understand that I was injured during the Hunt, but I assure you that one mistake does not make me careless." Weiss argued.

"But it does, actually. You don't notice things that are right in front of you." Lionel said as he waved his hands around, swinging the piece of metal in his hands with it.

"With respect, I assure you that–" Weiss stopped as she noticed what was in Lionel's hand. " _Is that…my tiara?_ " she thought before placing her hand to the top of her head finally noticing that her hair had been let down.

Lionel pressed a button on his scroll before speaking. "That took you three minutes and seven seconds to notice." He said as he stared at her while holding out her tiara.

Weiss sighed. "What can I do to help myself improve my awareness skills?" she asked in a meek tone as she took the tiara back from Lionel.

"Offer to help Yang with Paou Thai practice. You'll put the gloves on and catch whatever she throws at you, which will help you improve, and Yang gets to do her favorite workout. Other than that…just sparring with her is the best way to improve." Lionel said.

"Any particular reason you want me to spar with her, specifically?" Weiss asked.

"Because you're Ruby's partner and I'm sensing some hostility between you two." He said.

"We only do that in good fun…" Weiss stated.

"But neither of you actually care to spend time with one another outside of training. Ruby and Blake don't have that problem. I believe that the two of you have come to a subconscious consensus that you will not spend unnecessary time with each another…and that will get you both killed." Lionel explained.

"Honestly, I think that it is only because we're not partners that we don't spend more time together." Weiss said.

"This might surprise you but that's not how teams work. They pair you in groups of two for fighting purposes but make no mistake, you are still a team of four." Lionel said sarcastically causing Weiss to nod her head. "She probably isn't too happy that you're taking over the role of her sister's best friend…whether nor not you see it that way. On the other hand, you're against her because she is such a good fighter and yet has no discipline. I can see the rage that causes in your eyes; after all the training you went through and 'here comes this brute who can do it just as well and still has time left over to laugh and enjoy herself,' right?" Lionel stated, hitting the mark every time.

"Well, that isn't fair! She's a brute who, for some unknown reason, is able to come out on top of every fight she has!" Weiss complained.

"That's because she has a burning passion for the sport of fighting. Above all else, you're mad at her because she has a passionate and unconcerned outlook on the world and she did nothing to earn it; she's mad at you because you have the kind of life she can only dream of and you didn't have to work for it. You're both mad at each other for the way that you were born and that's stupid! Am I wrong?" Lionel half yelled.

"No." Weiss said as she lowered her head yet again. "And so the only way to resolve this is a fight?" she asked meekly.

"I think you can both learn something from one another. As I said, for as long as Yang can remember, she has been the one by Ruby's side. Fighting her is the only way to let her know that you can do that job just as well, if not better. Fighting is the language she speaks best." Lionel stated.

"I understand." Weiss said before looking back up to the Knight-General. "Surely you didn't take me away from my teammates just to tell me that, did you?" she asked.

"No. I need your help." Lionel said.

"Anything you need, I'll do my best." Weiss responded.

"Your father was one of the key financial supporters for the creation of those preservatives, correct?" Lionel asked.

"Yes. Why?" Weiss wondered.

"I have reason to believe that he is attempting to do the same thing the White Fang are trying to do." Lionel stated.

Weiss was confused, "My father would never side with the White Fang…he hates all faunus in general. Where did–"

"He's not working with them, he is attempting to do it first so they can't do it at all. I don't know if he is doing so because he truly doesn't want them to have that power, or if he wants the power for himself…regardless, that is not a risk I am willing to take." Lionel said.

"What exactly is he doing?" Weiss asked.

"I can't say right now…but if we can't take care of the White Fang during our upcoming mission, I may have no choice but to tell everyone. I digress, I really need your help. I need you to obtain any information from the Schnee Dust Company regarding the preservatives, a Kraken, or Codename: Leviathan. Can you help me with that?" Lionel asked.

"I will do my best, but I can't promise anything." Weiss stated with worry in her eyes.

"That will do. If you think that you've gotten yourself to deep or are in any danger of being exposed, then pull out. I don't want you getting hurt or someone getting tipped off about it." Lionel stated.

"Understood." Weiss said as she stood up and began to walk away but stopped after just a few feet. "I have heard the name Leviathan before. When I was younger, my father took me to a board meeting with the rest of the SDC officials and they were talking about it. If my father is planning something, it's been years in the making." She said while looking back at the Knight-General.

"I figured as much…thank you. You can tell your team about this if you want, but I thought it might be easier if they didn't know…but, it's up to you." Lionel said.

"I would rather have them in the loop. But regardless, I won't let my father hurt anyone else. That is a promise." Weiss said with tears glimmering in her eyes but with an atmosphere of confidence and determination around her.

"I know." Lionel said with a smile as Weiss walked back to her teammates. " _She really does act just like Marianne. They all act just like the original Saviors…there's no way in hell I'm wrong about this._ " He thought right as Weiss made it back to her teammates.

"Everything good?" Yang asked.

"That depends. It turns out my father is planning to do the same thing as the White Fang for his own gain." Weiss stated.

"Are you sure?" Blake asked.

"Lionel seems to believe so." Weiss answered.

"I really wish he would tell us what is going on…" Ruby said.

"Yeah, it would make things so much easier." Yang added.

"The White Fang are capable of some truly horrific things; I can't really blame him for not wanting us to know too much. Personally, I would be happier not knowing some of the things they did." Blake said.

The ladies nodded their heads in understanding. "Well, let's not get all depressed now. Did he give you any pointers for fighting, Ice Queen?" Yang asked.

"Yes. He told me that I need to work on my awareness during battle and to focus on paying attention more. He suggested sparring and Paou Thai training with you." Weiss explained.

"Fuck yeah! Anytime you wanna do that just hit me up!" Yang exclaimed making it know that it was her favorite workout.

"How about a sparring match between you two first?" Blake asked.

"Sure, I don't mind." Yang said.

"That is fine with me; he actually suggested a fight between the two of us a moment ago." Weiss said.

"Why?" Yang asked.

"He said we both have a lot to learn from one another and that this is the best way to teach it." Weiss said.

"What are we supposed to be gaining from each other?" Yang asked.

"Respect." Weiss said.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for the fact that you two are on the same team, I could never see you getting along." Ruby said.

Both Yang and Weiss stood staring at each other. "You ready then?" Yang asked.

Weiss drew Myrtenaster and took her most elegant stance followed by the cocking of Yang's Ember Celica as she lowered her center of gravity preparing and entered her boxing stance. "You seem relaxed." Weiss stated.

"Is there any reason not to be?" Yang mocked.

Blake pulled out her scroll and activated the battle app the girls are so familiar with. "This is a tournament style fight, understood?" she asked.

Both girls gave a nod in agreement. "Why do we hate each other?" Yang asked rhetorically.

"That remains to be seen." Weiss stated.

"Begin!" Blake shouted.

Weiss immediately summoned a glyph below her feet to propel her forward at amazing speeds. Yang didn't move and was prepared to face her head on until a glyph appeared right in front of Yang, launching Weiss into the air as she flew over it. Weiss back flipped over Yang and summoned another glyph behind Yang that she landed on to propel herself toward Yang's back.

Yang jumped into the air and pulled her fist back before she came back down to the ground. As she fell back down, she punched the ground with as much force as he could, sending a shockwave and a ring of fire spiraling outward from the impact.

Weiss punctured Myrtenaster into the ground summoning a mist of ice which effectively canceled out the fire that was heading for her. When the mist vanished, she was greeted by Yang's boot heading for her. She pulled Myrtenaster out of the ground and held both ends of her blade out which caught the impact of Yang heel, sending Weiss sliding backward.

Yang immediately began to fire upon Blake using her Ember Celica. Looked up from her defensive position and saw the blasts of fire heading her way. She summoned many small glyphs around her body which, after a slight delay, fired an ice dust projectile. Most of Yang's rounds with intercepted by Weiss' ice projectiles, however, some of each managed to get through to their opponent.

Weiss was hit once in her right shoulder, leaving a bloody burnt area where some of the fabric of her bolo jacket used to be. She managed to flip out of the way of the other three before they hit her. Yang had decided to place her arms up to defend her upper body and was hit three times by all of Weiss' projectiles that got through. Weiss' projectiles were not made of solid ice, but rather was a concentrated form of pure ice dust which expanded upon impact. Yang was hit in her bicep, forearm, and abdomen all on her left side. The ice seemed to almost freezer burn Yang's skin on contact, but due to her semblance, she managed to avoid any particularly bad injuries. The areas she was hit were still almost completely numb and discolored, however.

" _As I figured, she doesn't bother dodging smaller attacks. It's probably some sort of intimidation factor she has, but regardless…even if I can't defeat with sheer power, I'll simply use her overconfidence to my advantage and whittle her down until she can no longer fight._ " Weiss thought. Weiss wasted no time as she swapped dust in Myrtenaster to her less common yellow vial. She summoned a glyph under her feet, once again propelling her forward holding Myrtenaster behind her but still having it pointed forward.

"This again?" Yang shouted as she again prepared to face her head on. Weiss could see Yang glance down at the ground in front of her every so often to see when the next glyph would appear, but alas it never came. As soon as Weiss was just a foot away she shot her arm out in an attempt to stab Yang, but yang took almost no effort to block the point with her gauntlet.

"You're gonna have to do better than–AHHHHH!" Yang suddenly began to scream and her body began to shake violently. Weiss had activated the yellow dust – lightning dust – upon impact with Yang's gauntlet which was made from metal. Yang was being horrifically electrocuted.

Before this could even continue for a few seconds, Yang managed to bring her other arm back and swing at Weiss. Weiss was nailed on the right side of her face, which sent her hurtling toward a tree. Yang fell to her knees as Weiss impacted the bark so hard it knocked the caused the tree to fall backward before being caught by the branches of other trees. Weiss had a huge gash in her cheek and the white of her right eye had turned red from a popped blood vessel. She had blood coming from the eye, the gash, her nose, lip.

Weiss pushed herself of the partially fallen tree and stood up to glance at her opponent who had her head pointed toward the ground as she was on her hands and knees. Yang had many burn and wounds around her body from the voltage that was previously surging through her. Weiss once again readied herself in her fighting position. Yang looked at her opponent as she stood up; her eyes were once again blood red and her aura was emanating enough heat that the grass she stepped on would die immediately.

"Finally, the warm-up is done…" Weiss said as she held Myrtenaster with both hands at the stomach level with the blade pointed vertically. The dust chambers began to rotate stopping at the cyan vial this time. Yang cocked Ember Celica and began to fire a barrage of flame at Weiss who did a 360-degree spin while slashing her blade in a circle around her body. As the blade whipped through the air, the cyan dust activated causing a massive surge of wind to be created at the point in which the blade sliced through the air.

The gust of wind was so strong, it atomized Yang's attack in seconds and uprooted most of the trees around them. Yang was sent flying backward until she made contact with one of the trees in the distance. Weiss activated another glyph under her, launching her toward Yang yet again. As she neared the tree that Yang had hit, she saw that her opponent was nowhere to be found. Before she could deactivate her glyph's effect, she was halted by a fist resting on her abdomen. With the full speed of Weiss' glyph and the stance Yang had taken, Weiss was understandably in an immense amount of pain.

Weiss fell to her knees puking what looked to be a vile mixture of blood and bile. Yang grabbed Weiss by her hair and pulled her back up to a standing position.

"I don't think Yang is in her right mind…" Ruby stated while she looked on in horror as Yang placed her arms around Weiss' body in a familiar fashion. Ruby remembered the name of the wrestling move Yang was about to perform: The Bloody Sunday.

Yang picked Weiss up, flipping her upside down in the process, and then proceeded to let her body fall backward. Weiss' back slammed into the ground, absorbing most of the weight of the impact and leaving Yang more-or-less unharmed. Yang then rolled on top of Weiss and was about to begin pounding her face with her gauntlets when she was suddenly sent flying into the air. As she attempted to backflip back onto the ground, she realized the force was not letting up like it usually does.

Yang stopped about fifteen feet in the air and was unable to move. He arms and legs were extended from her body in a star formation and she was facing toward the ground. She turned her head and noticed that she was laying against another glyph; while the other glyphs would generate a pushing effect to launch people away from it, this glyph was generating a pull toward it.

Yang began to activate her semblance to an even greater extent. The Glyph seemed to be cracking under the sheer pressure of her aura. The glyph couldn't withstand the force any longer and shattered, releasing Yang to fall back to the ground. As she landed, she looked up at Weiss who noticed the shape that Yang was in. The boxer's eyes were red, her hair was flaming, and she had bruises and slowly cauterizing wounds all over her body.

Weiss activated her dust revolving chamber once again, only this time all of the colors of were activated at the same time. Many tribal looking lines began to appear on her weapon as well as cover her body in a symmetrical pattern. Each of the six colors of dust, she had in Myrtenaster's chambers, were represented on different places of her body. The colors would weave and wrap around one another, across what skin she had revealed, and would end on her feet, hands and face. On her hands, the red dust would stop at her index fingers, the blue on her middle fingers, the yellow in her ring fingers, the cyan on her little fingers, the purple on her thumbs, and the white would form an intricate circle on her palms. Her feet were presumably in a similar fashion. On her face, the red would be above her eyes and the blue below; the cyan was above her lips and the purple below them; the yellow would lead itself from the cheek bones down the chin and dipping under the ears; the white wrapped around her forehead as though it were a crown on her skin.

Yang charged her opponent and pulled her arm back, ready to strike Weiss down with a single punch. A loud and bright burst of flame appeared and when it subsided, Yang's eyes were wide with shock. Weiss had her hand held out from her body and was holding Yang's fist; Weiss had caught Yang's punch. Ruby, Blake, and even Yang herself were completely speechless. The event of not having someone be decimated after taking one of her punches head on, at least somewhat, snapped Yang out of her rage.

"What the fuck?!" Yang snarled as she noticed the white pattern on Weiss' skin was brighter than the other colors. Yang figured that whatever colored was lit up on Weiss' skin was representative of what power she had available to use. Her assumption was vindicated as the yellow pattern lit up before Yang felt the familiar sting of voltage surge through her body.

Weiss let go of Yang's fist and watched her fall back to the ground. Yang opened her eyes but was surprised to see Weiss walking back about five feet before turning around and readying herself in one of her elegant fighting poses. After a few seconds of neither girl moving, it finally struck Yang what was going on. " _She's waiting for me to get back up._ " Yang thought. "Why didn't you attack?" she asked, already on the borderline of sanity and rage once again.

"That wouldn't be fair, now would it?" Weiss asked mockingly.

That was it. When it comes to Yang, you can punch her, kick her, shoot her, stab her, and you would still have a chance, however small it may be, of living. But you never go easy on her in a fight. Yang jumped back to her feet and reloaded Ember Celica, all while glaring daggers at Weiss. Yang reentered her boxing stance and stood, waiting for Weiss to make the next move.

"You're done." Yang said. Those were the last words that the sane Yang would say.


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

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 **Author's Note** : Wow! The first week of the semester is done! Only 14 more to go… I hope you guys are having a wonderful start to all of your school years (if you still attend). We're finally getting to the meat of the story; it's been a long time coming. As always, thank you for reading and I pray to receive your acceptance. And if I do receive your acceptance, you'll be spared when I conquer the world and bring forth the new world order. Please let me know what you think of the chapter and I hope you enjoy!

Hasta la bye-bye for now!

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Weiss brought her blade up to be chest level with Yang as she pointed the tip of the blade at her. The red symbols covering her body began to light up whilst the yellow dissipated, immediately followed by a barrage of flaming projectiles being shot toward Yang. Yang stood tall and crossed both of her arms to defend her body from the attack.

" _As expected. You would rather block these attacks than dodge them._ " Weiss thought. The projectiles began to hit yang one after the other. The first hit her left arm, which was crossed in front of the right one, and completely shattered her defense. The flame was not the reason since Yang could easily handle the heat. She didn't notice that the only symbol that dissipated was the yellow, leaving the white lit up in combination with the red.

The sheer force of the white dust's power knocked Yang backward with each hit until she finally began to dodge the attacks after she was hit six times. When Yang looked forward, Weiss was nowhere to be seen. She stood, waiting for any sign of the Ice Queen to show herself until she heard a rustle coming from above her. Without hesitation, Yang began to fire her Ember Celica into the trees until her gauntlets were emptied, setting them ablaze. She continued to look around as she reloaded her Ember Celica with long ranged shells in her left gauntlet and pulse slugs in her right gauntlet.

As the fire began to spread, a thin coating of ice, like the frozen dew in winter, began to cover every burning leaf and branch. Weiss emerged from the trees and used her glyphs to jump around her opponent until she was behind her. She landed on another glyph which, again, propelled her forward toward Yang, who did not take the chance of getting hit with her blade again. Yang jumped to her side as Weiss passed through where she was standing before stopping a few feet farther.

"I see you're learning not to take my attacks head on. Good!" Weiss said in a mocking tone. Yang did not respond; she pulled her right arm back and fired her right gauntlet at her opponent. Weiss pivoted to her right to allow the single shot to fly past her until it hit the tree just a few feet behind her. It exploded with a force stronger than a grenade which knocked Weiss' body forward violently.

However, before Weiss hit the ground, she was stopped by a hand wrapping its fingers around her neck. Yang lifted her up by her neck and began to repeatedly punch her in the stomach before throwing Weiss to the ground as hard as she could. While being punched in the stomach, Weiss had dropped Myrtenaster, which Yang kicked further away as she made her way toward the heiress who was laying on the ground.

Weiss turned onto her back as Yang was looming over her about two feet away. Just as Yang pulled her arm back again for another attack, Weiss activated another glyph under her body, which Yang thought would propel her up into the air. Yang was dumbstruck when Weiss came flying, at amazing speed, toward her and head-butted her square in the middle of her face. Yang was knocked on her butt, by the sheer force of the impact, while gripping her face.

Weiss scrambled to get Myrtenaster back but was tripped by Yang grabbing her ankle and pulling her back. Weiss tried to kick Yang's hand away from her ankle, but each kick was intercepted by one of Yang's gauntlets. Yang, tired of the kicking, grabbed Weiss' ankle with both of her hands and slid her closer. She grabbed Weiss by the abdomen, flipped her onto her back before she jumped onto her stomach, and started wailing on Weiss' face.

With each punch, Weiss' face became slightly less noticeable through all of the blood and swelling. After about a dozen punches from each arm, Yang finally let up her onslaught and looked down at her shattered opponent. Weiss was breathing almost peacefully, no heavy hyperventilation or wheezing. Yang brought her knee up and was about to stand before a hand landed on her face with their fingers sprawled across.

The purple color began to light up and sent a shiver through Yang's body. Before she could reconsider, Yang felt an unparalleled rage build up in her body. Without removing Weiss' hand from her face, she pulled her right arm back one final time and punched Weiss with every ounce of strength she had. Weiss arm fell to the ground, the thud bringing Yang out of her rage.

Yang stood up and looked at the bloody face of the heiress she had just faced off against; she was on the verge of tears as Blake and Ruby ran up to see the final result. Yang lifted her hands to see them covered in blood…more blood than should be there from how many hits Weiss took. They were completely red, as though she hand stuck her hand into a bucket of gore…and she didn't know where all of the blood came from.

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she got closer to where the two girls were at.

"Yang!? What the hell were you thinking?!" Blake yelled as she kneeled down next to Weiss.

Tears began to stream down Ruby's face as she finally reached her partner. "Weiss! W-W-Wei-Weiss!" Ruby shouted through gasps and sniffles.

"She's not breathing!" Blake said as she pulled out her scroll and began to dial the emergency response number.

"But…I didn't hit her that…hard…did I?" Yang asked in dumbfounded confusion.

Ruby was crying rivers at this point, lifting Weiss' body up and hugging her with all of her strength. "Weiss! Please, Weiss…wake up!" she yelled.

Yang, still completely in shock, looked at her former opponent lying on the ground blood exiting from the wounds on her face and the burning wound in her chest. "Did…I do…that?" Yang asked in a daze.

"Yang, shut up! Damnit! I can't get any signal out here…we're too deep in the forest…" Blake said as she began to stuff gauze into the wound in Weiss' chest. When the hole was filled with antiseptic-soaked gauze, she began to perform CPR.

Yang looked down to her hands again to see many strands of Weiss' hair with blood dripping from it. She looked back up to see Blake performing an incision right in the middle of Weiss' throat with an Ambu bag close by. "Did I do that…?" Yang asked, still in a daze, as she saw Weiss' crushed throat.

Ruby looked back at her sister with tears and hatred filling her eyes, but said nothing before turning her attention back to Weiss. Blake grabbed the Ambu bag and began to fill pump the air into the hole that she made before handing the bag to Ruby so she could begin CPR. "Yang, how could you do this?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Blake yelled as she performed compressions.

Yang stammered, "I didn't mean…it was a fight…how did…why–"

"Shut up, Yang!" Ruby yelled.

"Rubes?" Yang asked with tears starting to flood her eyes.

"SHUT UP! GO AWAY!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Rubes…I'm sorry…I didn't…" Yang stammered as she placed her hand over her mouth while tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Yang pulled her hand away from her face after remembering what was on them. Again, she looked back at her teammates only to see a portion of Weiss' scalp burned black with the hair missing. Blake was placing gauze on Weiss' head to stop the bleeding and Ruby was yelling Weiss' name.

Yang looked down to her hands and saw that one of her long-range shells from her left gauntlet was missing. "But…I never shot it…I never got a chance to…" Yang stammered with utter disbelief at her actions.

"Shut up, Yang!" Blake yelled as she covered the gauze over Weiss' burned area.

"Ruby…I didn't…" Yang tried to explain.

"GO AWAY, YANG! JUST GO, YOU MONSTER!" Ruby yelled.

Yang's tears started to fall down her cheeks, "Ruby–"

"She's not breathing…" Blake said as she placed her hands over Weiss's chest and began compressions. After a count of thirty, Ruby placed her lips over Weiss' and began to breathe into Weiss' lungs before Blake started compressions again.

"Ruby…how did you…where's the Ambu bag?" Yang asked when she saw Ruby give breath into Weiss' lungs. Yang looked lower and saw that the hole Blake cut into Weiss' neck was gone. "Didn't I…" Yang stammered. Again she looked lower and the hole in Weiss's chest was nowhere to be found. "How did…" she mumbled as she looked at her hands for the fourth time. Her hands had much less blood on them than before…a reasonable amount, given the circumstances.

"Yang, call emergency services!" Blake yelled while Yang was still looking at her hands.

"But you said we were too deep in the…forest." Yang said with her voice trailing off at the end. "We're not in the forest…we're at Lion's house." she said before looking around only to not see Lionel's manor anywhere in sight. "When did we leave his–" Yang looked at her teammates, but was shocked to find no one. " _What the fuck?_ " she thought.

Yang heard a rustle come from behind her and turned her body around as fast as she could. As soon as she could see behind her, she saw the familiar, swollen, bloody, but living face of her opponent. Weiss was without a hole in her chest, crushed neck, or a burned scalp…just a bloody and bruised face. She had her hand stretched out with her palm flat on Yang's chest. Without missing a beat, Weiss activated a glyph on her palm which sent Yang flying backward until she hit one of the roman-style support pillars on Lionel's porch.

Weiss ran through the trees until she reached the opening in which they were training earlier only to see Yang struggling to get to her feet. Blake and Ruby jumped out of the tree line and took their place next to Lionel, who was still sitting on the steps from when he was talking to Weiss.

Weiss, once again, entered her fighting stance and waited for Yang to get to her feet. "What the fuck happened?" Yang shouted as she reached her feet.

Weiss didn't answer; she stood completely still as she waited for Yang to enter her boxing stance.

"Well?! I thought I fucking killed you!" Yang shouted.

"Purple dust is most commonly used for mental patients…it manipulates the mind." Lionel said.

Yang looked at her opponent with her eyes wide and bloodshot, "So that…"

"…never happened." Weiss finished.

"You bitch! I thought I fucking killed you!" Yang snarled.

"Who's to say that you wouldn't have? You're not exactly the friendliest of people when your 'hulking out'." Weiss stated.

Yang was angry, but she knew that Weiss was right. " _I can't control myself when I'm like that. What if I hurt someone I care about…What if I hurt Ruby?_ " Yang thought.

"Please, don't get all depressed now. We're in the middle of something important." Weiss stated as she, again, raised her blade vertically while holding the hilt at her stomach. The blade began to glow yellow as Weiss formed a glyph under her feet. Yang glanced at Ember Celica before looking ahead; the moment Weiss' glyph activated, and she was sent flying forward, Yang shot both gauntlets behind her, launching her at amazing speeds as well.

Both ladies met in the middle, each of their attacks held firmly where they hit. Their eyes were wide as they both looked upon their respective target. "I'm afraid we'll have to save the conclusion for another time…" Lionel said as he released Myrtenaster's blade from his right hand and Yang's fist from his left, the blast from each attack being almost completely deflected by his aura.

Weiss looked at him in confusion, "What do you–"

She was cut off by an alarm going off all across the campus. An explosion could be heard in the distance and, as Lionel and Team RWBY looked in its direction, they could see a plethora of military airships taking off.

"Beacon is being attacked. Ladies, I need you to head back to the school and get everyone out who might be trapped. Try to avoid fighting, if you can." Lionel explained.

"What are you going to do?" Ruby asked.

"Counterattack." Lionel stated with a confident and smug expression as he seemed to teleport to the top of the wall around his land.

"Can you see what's going on?" Yang asked.

"It's the White Fang…SHIT! I have to go! Hurry up and get everyone to safety!" Lionel stated clearly. "And DON'T try to fight them head-on unless you've got no other option." He finished before disappearing behind the wall.

"Guys, we have to go." Ruby said as they ran to the front gate.

"Holy shit…" Yang said as they reached the already open gate only to see a dozen White Fang members on the ground. "Must've been Lion's handiwork." Yang concluded.

Blake noticed the motto 'Sic Semper Tyrannis' that was on their shoulders right above the White Fang insignia. "They're the strike force. This isn't some intimidation tactic; this is a full-blown assault." She explained.

"Then we have to hurry." Weiss said as they began running through the courtyard heading to the cafeteria.

As they neared the door, it busted open with a White Fang member flying through. Team RWBY looked back at the door to see Pyrrha walking out with her spear in hand as well as several of the academy's professors, in a sort of defensive perimeter, in the cafeteria. "Pyrrha!" Ruby shouted.

"Oh! Hello Everyone!" Pyrrha said before she looked at both Weiss and Yang's beaten forms. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was just showing the Princess how to fight." Yang said sarcastically right as the rest of Team JNPR walked through the door.

"Is that what you call it? I'm fairly certain you were the one crying." Weiss retorted.

"Whatever." Yang said as she rolled her eyes. "Do you guys know what's going on?" she asked.

"Not really. They showed up out of the forest…the only other thing I heard was that they were looking for someone; don't know who, though." Jaune explained.

"Do you know why?" Blake asked.

"No. But Ozpin has been expecting this to happen." Ren said.

"How do you know?" Ruby asked.

"Immediately before the attack started, he ordered everyone to go to the elevators, at the end of their halls, and to take it down to sub-level D." Ren stated.

"Weren't the sublevels off-limits?" Yang asked.

"Most of them still are, but we were allowed to access level D." Jaune said.

"Who all didn't make it?" Blake inquired.

"The only ones that we know of are held up in the kitchen behind the cafeteria. That's why we're all defending these to entrances as well as the employee entrance in the back." Pyrrha stated as she pointed to each of the defensive areas.

"Then if everyone is safe, we need to go and help Lion." Yang stated.

"I agree, we can't just let him and Ozpin do this alone." Blake said with a monotonous voice.

"I saw Ozpin heading to the front courtyard" Ren stated.

"We need to stay back and help the professors keep this area secured. Besides, with all of the training you guys have gotten, you'd be a much bigger help than us anyway." Jaune said nervously.

"So be it." Weiss said.

"C'mon!" Ruby yelled as they ran around the building heading toward the front entrance of the academy.

As they were running a group of White Fang ran out from the tree yelling at them. "They must be trying to encircle the entire school from the trees." Ruby stated.

"Then we'll just blow a hole straight through 'em!" Yang said as she fired one of her pulse slugs. It hit the leading member of the charging White Fang, exploding on impact and killing the rest of the White Fang around him. "Just leave the big groups to me." She finished.

Right as the ladies reached the corner of the building, they heard Ozpin speaking with someone. They all looked around the corner to examine the situation unfolding.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to take her." Ozpin said rather calmly.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice." Another voice said sternly.

"How cocky." Glynda said from Ozpin's side.

"I have no reason not to be." The White Fang member said.

"Who is that asshole?" Yang whispered.

"I will give you precisely one chance to leave here peacefully, Adam." Ozpin said.

"Adam? The leader of the White Fang?" Weiss asked in shock.

"Yes, that's definitely him." Blake said.

The buzz of the antimatter rifle could suddenly be heard from behind the girls. "Put your hands up, now!" A voice yelled.

Ozpin, Glynda, Adam, and the other White Fang present all turned their heads to the corner to see the bloody remains of the person unfortunate enough to sneak up behind Yang. "More guests?" Adam asked to no one in particular.

"So it would seem." Ozpin said as all four of the ladies walked out into their sight.

Adam took no time at all noticing a certain black-haired girl with them. "So that's how you've been able to crack so many of our codes recently…" Adam said to Ozpin before turning his head to Blake. "It's nice to see you again, Dear." He finished while looking at Blake with killer intentions.

Yang wanted to kill him right then and there for that 'dear' remark, but she wasn't about to underestimate the leader of the largest terrorist organization in the world.

"Don't call me that." Blake said coldly.

"Even after all this time, you still hurt me so much…you need to be taught a lesson, dear." Adam stated with hunger in his voice.

"As touching as this reunion is for you, I'm afraid we have other business to take care of." Ozpin said calmly.

"I'm not sure what you have planned, but this is what I've been waiting for…" Adam said as he snapped his fingers. In just a few seconds, Beacon courtyard was filled with dozens of soldiers coming out from the forest, to their sides, and cutting off any possibility of escape from the airships docks.

"I didn't want it to come to this, but we have no choice." Ozpin said as he picked his cane up like a sword. "Ladies, could you please head to the safe room…Glynda and I will handle this." He said while glancing at Team RWBY.

"There's too many of them for you two to take on!" Yang shouted.

"Girls! Leave, now!" Glynda yelled.

"I'm afraid they will not be leaving, but worry not…they won't be fighting either." Adam said as White Fang began emerging from the corner where Team RWBY came from.

"I'll kill every single last one of you bastards!" Yang growled.

"The Knight-General told you to avoid confrontation, ladies…leave now!" Ozpin said in a slightly irritated tone.

A group of White Fang rushed toward Team RWBY. Yang fired one pulse round into the group, killing most of them and separating the remaining. Those who survived were picked off by Ruby, Blake, and Weiss within a matter of seconds.

"I didn't order them to attack, but they did anyway…" Adam said with a slight chuckle. "You should always follow orders, ladies. Even those of us in the White Fang do so, because when you don't…" He stopped in the middle of his statement to whistle, followed by the sound of a gunshot. "…people get hurt." He finished as the sound of a loud thud behind Team RWBY echoed through the courtyard.

Ozpin, Glynda, as well as each of the members of Team RWBY, turned around to be met with the sight of Yang lying on her back grasping her neck as blood spurted out.

"YANG!" Ruby yelled as she ran toward Yang. Some of the remaining White Fang behind them took advantage of the situation and darted forward before any of the girls could notice what was happening. One White Fang soldiers hit Ruby in the back of her head with the butt of his gun, knocking her out. Ruby fell to the ground close to Yang who removed one of her hands covering her throat in a futile attempt to reach out to her unconscious sister a few feet away.

Weiss was tackled to the ground, but the soldier that hit her was impaled by Myrtenaster. She pushed his body off of her as the red dust activated summoning over a dozen small red glyphs around her body. Each of the glyphs shot off at the same time hitting most of their targets, incinerating them instantly.

"Fall back, we have what we need!" A White Fang lieutenant yelled from next to Adam causing the soldiers to jump back to the corner they emerged from.

Weiss darted her head back to Adam and saw Blake, who had her hands tied, being carried away on the shoulder of a White Fang member while two more ran alongside him as guards, one of them with Gambol Shroud on his hip. Weiss stepped forward with Myrtenaster aimed at them until Blake shouted, "NO! Save Yang, Damnit!"

"Shut up!" One of the soldiers said as he punched her in her jaw, knocking her out.

Weiss glanced back to see Yang still inching her way over to her sister's unconscious form with her left hand clenched tightly around her neck, the blood not slowing down as it pooled all over the ground. She turned her head back to Blake who was being carried toward the White Fang airship which had just recently arrived. She closed her eyes, clenched her teeth, and activated the White Dust again. Weiss opened her eyes as tears began to flood down her face and shot out a spherical glyph toward Yang. It seemed to phase through her body and hit the ground she was lying on, summoning a glyph which looked like a large clock showing the current time, 11:47am.

Yang seemed to stop moving, the blood stopped spurting from her throat, and her eyes glued in a state of stasis while locked on her unconscious sister. Time was completely frozen for her.

Weiss turned back around to see Blake being thrown into the airship with Adam following close behind. She started running toward the ship as the hatch closed, firing projectiles from Myrtenaster as she moved. The energy shields of the ship were too strong for Weiss' exhausted attacks and simply destroyed her attacks on impact.

"Weiss, stop!" Ozpin yelled while stopping Weiss with his left arm.

"Get out of the way!" Weiss yelled as the airship began to take off.

"You can't save her right now; you'd only get yourself killed." Ozpin explained.

Weiss watched in horror as the ship began to accelerate away. "Move!" She yelled as she pushed Ozpin away as best she could and fired more projectiles from Myrtenaster, still having no effect.

Static could be heard from the radios of the fallen White Fang, behind Weiss, until someone speaking broke the silence. "All units, retreat to your designated LZ and hold position, we have them both." Adam said in a calm and cool manner.

Weiss, again, fired many flaming projectiles, this time much larger, completely destroying their bodies until only ash remained. "Damn it…" Weiss mumbled as she fell to her knees with tears rolling down her face.

Glynda walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder before speaking, "Weiss…"

"Why didn't you let me go?!" Weiss yelled.

Glynda raised an eyebrow, "Weiss, I–"

"I needed to save her…why didn't you let me?!" Weiss continued to yell.

Glynda was doing her best to calm the heiress, "Weiss, they–"

"How could you let them go?!" Weiss shouted.

"WEISS!" Ozpin yelled, silencing her. "If you had left to attempt to get Blake, you would have likely died. And Yang would have certainly died…this was the best case scenario." Ozpin explained as he looked over to Yang.

Weiss looked to Yang as well with worry in her eyes. "I know…I just…" Weiss said softly.

"We will get her back. I promise." Ozpin said in a caring tone causing Weiss to glance back to Ozpin before looking back at Yang a second later.

"That glyph will only last about fifteen more minutes…we need to get Yang to the medical center." Weiss said as the hum of around a dozen airships flew over them and began to land in certain areas around the campus.

Weiss stood up and raised Myrtenaster, but was immediately stopped by Ozpin. "They are leaving, so let them." He said.

"I can shoot down some of the ships!" Weiss stated.

"We need to regroup and plan our next move." Ozpin said as he scratched the back of his head while watching the airships take off and fly away. "We've lost this battle, but the war is far from over." He finished.

"Besides, you're in no shape to fight. Get those two to the infirmary…and get yourself checked out while you're there." Glynda said.

Weiss nodded before walking over to her teammates, summoning a glyph under them which caused them all to start floating a few inches off the ground. "Do you know why they wanted Blake?" Weiss asked.

"There are many things I don't know…Why do the need her? When Adam ordered a retreat, he said they 'had them both', who is the other one? Why does he need the other person? How did they get through our scanners without being detected?" Ozpin began listing off countless questions which only raised their concerns even more. "The bottom line: There is much I have to find out about what is going on." He finished as he was looking out to the airships flying away in the distance.

The glyph that Weiss and her teammates were on began to float higher. "If you need anything, let me know. I have access to the SDC's network, and I will provide anything I can to help." Weiss stated.

"Thank you." Ozpin said without turning to face her.

Weiss continued as though she didn't even hear Ozpin. "And we'll be ready for a fight when we do figure this all out." She finished.

Ozpin turned his head, slightly, to see her, "I know." He said with a small grin.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : Wow! two out of fifteen weeks of school are finished already. It doesn't sound like much when I put it that way, but they're not holding anything back. Anyway, this chapter more-or-less concludes this arc; I know, mostly uneventful. I won't need to do any major time skips again as we get ready to dive into the rescue and the mission they have to take on. There should be two more arcs, both will have a quite bit more action than this one, I just had to use this time to set up the obstacles they have to face. As always, review, review, review, and I'll see you all next Thursday!

Thank you for reading!

* * *

"Do you know when she is going to wake up?" Ruby asked worryingly.

"To be honest, I don't know. We managed to stitch up the wound in her neck, but she lost a lot of blood." The doctor explained. "…and we're running low on units of blood due to all of the injuries sustained during the White Fang attack." He finished.

Ruby was more than concerned for her sister at this point. "I can give more if–"

"No, you can't." Weiss interrupted.

"I have to agree with Miss Schnee, You've already given one pint. If you were a grown adult, I would allow a second pint to be drawn in this extreme scenario…but taking another one from you now, given your age and size, would likely cause serious damage." The doctor stated.

"I've already called the Schnee Medical Center to have more units of all blood types sent over, it should be arriving within the next forty-eight hours." Weiss stated.

"But what if that takes too long?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby, this is her fourth unit of blood and the hemorrhaging has almost completely stopped, she will be fine for the time being." Weiss explained.

"I agree. When I stated that she had lost a lot of blood, I should have specified that I meant that I'm mostly worried about how much blood made it to her brain. The biggest concern for her now is the possibility of brain damage." The doctor said.

"The best thing for you to do now is to get some rest; the more you think about this, the more worried you will become." Weiss stated.

"Okay…" Ruby mumbled. "What about Weiss, will she be fine?" she asked the doctor.

"She'll be fine. I don't see much possibility of permanent damage, just a tedious recovery process." The doctor stated.

"That's good news!" Ruby said with the first smile since she woke up.

"Before I take my leave, are there any questions you have for me?" The doctor asked.

"No, sir. Thank you for all of your help." Weis said.

"No problem at all." The doctor said as he walked out.

"I think I'm going to–" Weiss began before being interrupted by the clingiest of all bear hugs.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for saving my sister. Thank you, thank you, thank you." Ruby said as she began to cry, not letting up on her hug.

"You don't have to thank me, Ruby…she is my teammate…" Weiss said in a serious tone. "…and friend." She finished.

"I know! But Yang won't thank you, so I have to make sure you know just how much she and I appreciate it!" Ruby said as she pulled away from Weiss.

"Don't worry about it, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'm going to get some rest now, Ruby. I suggest you do the same before you worry yourself to death. Besides, We'll want to be well rested for when Lionel returns from his meeting with Ozpin later this evening." Weiss said as she laid down to rest.

Before drifting off to sleep, she felt an unfamiliar warm sensation around her hand. Weiss opened her eyes to see her leader's head down on her bed with their hands intertwined. "Dolt." She said before closing her eyes again, enjoying the butterflies in her stomach that came with the sensation.

* * *

"Ozpin, have you figured out who the second person is? Who else did they kidnap?" Lionel asked.

"We've done a count on all of the faculty and staff of Beacon academy and the only person absent was Miss Belladonna." Glynda said from the side of Ozpin's desk, switching between typing on her laptop and her scroll.

"We have received reports that there was another attack on Atlas academy and General Ironwood's fleet. It would seem the attack on their academy was a ruse to isolate the General's fleet when they broke off from their regular route." Ozpin explained before a ringing began from his scroll. He pressed a button which caused a hologram of General Ironwood to appear.

"What happened?" Lionel asked.

"The White Fang sent suicide bombers to attack Atlas Academy, but Ozpin managed to warn us about it. We ordered all of the students to evacuate to the safe-rooms, so there were few injuries and no casualties on their end."

"That's good to hear, what about on your end?" Lionel asked.

"Of my sixteen ships, three were attacked and one was completely destroyed. We didn't know that those White Fang occupying the academy were suicide bombers as the White Fang has had no history of such a despicable tactic." Ironwood said with noticeable disgust.

"It seems that they just keep getting worse." Glynda stated.

"When our ships arrived, the occupying forces exited the academy with jetpacks and began making their way to our ships. They entered through every opening they could find. Once inside, they began to detonate the bombs strapped to their bodies; as I said, two were damaged and are receiving repairs and one crashed when an explosion took out the port-side engines." Ironwood finished.

"I'm sorry to say this, as I will sound impudent and uncaring; I need you to do a headcount on every person aboard your ships, find out who were killed, and notify me any missing persons that could not be accounted for." Lionel said.

"Yes, Ozpin told me about this 'second person' that the White Fang managed to get their hands on. I believe I already know who it is: a woman by the name of Cinder Fall. Each of my ships is outfitted with a section for jailing undesirables, and she was the only prisoner missing." Ironwood stated.

"What was she arrested for?" Lionel asked.

"You name it. Aggravated assault, Murder, Robbery, Battery, the list goes on. But the most noteworthy one is Conspiracy against the Union of Hunters and Conspiracy to assassinate Knight-General Sean Donovan." Ironwood stated.

"So she doesn't like me?" Lionel joked.

"Probably not…especially if she was going to try and kill your father." Glynda stated.

"Sounds like she's our girl. Next question: We've known for a while that they have military-grade weaponry, but how in the hell did they make it past both academy's sensors?" Lionel asked to no one in particular.

Ironwood crossed his arms as he was thinking, "From what information I've been able to gather, one of the White Fang lieutenants' semblance is capable of manipulating atomic bonding. Basically, she can prevent them from conducting certain physical properties like electricity, sound, light, among many others. Since every sensor known to Remnant relies on picking up sound, movement, heat, electromagnetic waves–"

"…she can pretty much hide the presence of almost anything." Lionel finished.

"Exactly." Ironwood responded.

"Do we have any information regarding who this person is?" Ozpin asked.

"No. All I know is that she oversees most of the White Fang's finances, transactions, and cargo movement." Ironwood stated.

"Romanov Synther." Lionel said as soon as he heard the term 'cargo' mentioned.

"How do you know?" Glynda asked.

"When I spoke to Team RWBY about the mission we would be taking in a few months, Blake informed me about this woman and that she generally operates from a cargo ship that passes through the area that the mission takes place at. Hence the reason why I took such a simple mission." Lionel explained.

"She seems like a likely suspect for a head on assault. The White Fang are planning something big." Glynda stated.

"I agree…and if Sir Donovan would tell us what that is, I'm sure we could do something to help him." Ozpin said.

"Ozpin…this isn't just some little attack that they are planning, they are manipulating powers far beyond their control." Lionel said.

Ozpin sighed, "Which is even more of a reason–"

"Furthermore, I've already entertained the notion of letting the three of you, as well as the other headmasters, in on this little secret. I've come to the conclusion that if the mission Team RWBY and I will be taking is a failure, or does not go according to plan, I will give you any information that you may desire." Lionel asserted.

"Do you plan on doing this mission with one less team member?" Glynda asked.

"No. We're going to rescue her." Lionel said.

"How? Do you have a plan?" Glynda asked mockingly.

"Yes, I do. And it will begin any time now." Lionel stated.

"You've formulated a rescue plan without us? We can help you, Lionel, if you would simply let us. What are you planning?" Ironwood asked.

"I can't tell you, that's one of the most important parts of the rescue plan; I can't tell anyone. I'm just waiting for her to initiate the plan…and she doesn't even know she's a part of it." Lionel said cryptically.

"She? Who doesn't know they're a part of it?" Ozpin asked.

Before Lionel could say another word, his scroll began to vibrate. "Hello, Ruby! What can I do for you?" he asked after answering the call.

"Yang's gone! She left the hospital room, took her motorcycle from the academy's garage, and left!" Ruby yelled loud enough for everyone present to hear.

Lionel pressed the mute button on his scroll. "It has begun." He said before switching back to speaking with Ruby. "Listen, Ruby…I need you to remain calm. I will be there as soon as I can." He said to his student.

* * *

"I cannot believe that woman; is she completely insane?" Weiss asked.

"Love makes a person do crazy things…" Lionel stated as he was scanning through his network, looking for his student.

"You don't seem very concerned about this." Weiss stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, of course I'm concerned, I just knew, and accepted, the very high possibility of her taking this course of action." Lionel said.

Weiss was extremely annoyed, "You just let her–"

"Which is why I took the liberty of tagging her motorcycle. Don't worry, I'll know every move she makes." Lionel said with confidence.

"She is in no position to be making a rescue on her own!" Weiss said.

"And she won't be… I'll be there with her." Lionel continued.

Weiss was getting noticeably more annoyed with each passing moment. "Sir, with respect, this is completely–"

"I'm surprised at how quickly you've gone to her side after just a single fight. I guess Yang isn't the only person who speaks the 'fighting' language." Lionel joked.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ruby asked.

"Nothing, don't worry. The bottom line is that I knew Yang had contacts, personal contacts. The hunting academies, the kingdoms, all of the well-known Intelligence Organizations are compromised, so they are more-or-less unreliable. I knew she would be the best person to find Blake given her connections and determination." Lionel explained.

"What about your network? You're pinpointing her location right now!" Weiss wondered in annoyance.

"My 'network' consists of the major Intelligence Organizations around Remnant, hence the Knight-Remnant Act, and the Knights themselves. Just because we're a powerful Order doesn't mean we're wealthy. Most of the Knights live on land their family has owned for generations, grow and hunt their own food, and pay for any luxuries using lien earned from normal hunts; we mine and purify our own dust, maintain our own weapons and armor, and build our own tools. Any presence of organized structure within the order is entirely funded through donations from generous people or the Knights themselves. Long story short, we can't afford a person intelligence network; I just combine all of the already existing networks." Lionel explained.

"So you're going to wait for Yang to get to where she needs to go and then we'll help her?" Ruby asked.

"I'm going to wait for Yang to get to where she needs to go and then I'LL help her. You're staying here." Lionel said.

"What?!" Ruby shouted.

"I can understand why I need to stay…" Weiss said while holding up her IV. "…but why can't she go?" She finished.

"Because I need you ladies in peak condition for when our mission comes." Lionel said.

"We won't be able to go if we don't get Yang and Blake back." Ruby argued.

"Ruby, I need you here to hold down the fort. Since our Intelligence Organizations are compromised and our scanners are not effective, I need every student to be ready to respond in a moment's notice. I managed to convince each headmaster of the Hunting Academies that, instead of hiding their students underground and 'waiting for it all to blow over', they need to be ready to fight." Lionel started.

"I suppose…" Ruby mumbled. "Jaune was telling me about how many students were upset when they found out they were told to head underground to hide from an attack. Cardin and Coco managed to make it back to the surface to fight." She finished.

"Precisely. But, also, imagine the kind of message that sends our enemies." Lionel said.

"It tells them we're weak." Ruby said.

"Yes. And because of that, the White Fang attacked other locations this morning, most notably Shade Academy." Lionel said.

"What else did they take?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing. They attacked us to get Blake, and they attacked Atlas Academy to rescue a prisoner, but they attacked Shade Academy for, what seems to be, the sole purpose of destroying some of the campus. There have been other places, as I said, but the trend is the same: Just destruction. They're mocking us." Lionel explained.

"I understand." Ruby said.

"No, you don't. But you will fully comprehend the gravity of this situation when you get fully settled into your new position." Lionel said as he stood up from his laptop.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"I placing you as one of the four students who will coordinate the student-body during the event of an attack. The four students in charge of this will be yourself, Jaune, Cardin, and Coco, for obvious reasons. Think of yourselves and the generals. Ozpin, Glynda, Port, and Oobleck will coordinate the teachers." Lionel stated.

"Are you sure about this?" Ruby asked breathlessly.

"Are you?" Lionel retorted. "I've chosen you four based on your tactical know-how, determination, and skills. If you feel that you would only get people hurt, then it is up to you to step down." He said monotonously.

"No…I think I'll be fine." Ruby said worryingly.

"You will not just be defending Beacon, but you will be the first responders in the event of an attack on Vale. Without Intelligence and our sensor array, the military will take much longer to respond, so it will be up to you to take care of these people until soldiers start arriving." Lionel continued.

"Heh…no pressure." Ruby said, still breathing in controlled portions.

"No, a lot of pressure actually." Lionel joked.

"I always looked up to the Knights for their battle prowess, but I never considered how much pressure is put onto you guys…how do you manage to stay so calm knowing how many people are relying on you?" Ruby asked.

"A lot of experience." Lionel responded.

"Ha, you don't look a day over twenty-three." Weiss stated mockingly.

"True…but I have magnitudes more experience than even Ozpin." Lionel replied.

"I can do this. I won't let you down." Ruby said.

"And I won't let you down. The next time you see me, Yang AND Blake are going to be with me." Lionel said.

"I take it you'll be leaving soon?" Weiss asked.

"Yes; in fact, I've already packed. I'll be leaving as soon as we're done here. I'll be on a mission, so I might not be able to respond to you as often as you like. But, if you need anything, just give me a call." Lionel reassured them.

"Don't worry about us, we'll do just fine!" Ruby said playfully while childishly saluting.

"I'll be sure to keep her in line." Weiss said.

"I know you will." Lionel joked. "Is there anything else you want to talk about before I go?" Lionel asked.

"I just…" Ruby started before beginning to think about her question. "…what are the rules of engagement in case of an attack?" Ruby asked.

Lionel chuckled. "Your number one priority is to protect the innocent at all costs. Eliminate hostiles as you see fit. If you see an opportunity to take them alive, then do so…but take no chances." He stated clear as day.

"Yes, sir!" Ruby said.

"Alright. As I said, you'll be in charge alongside the other seven people I mentioned, so you'll have regular meetings with them. Your first meeting is tonight, at 9:00pm, in Ozpin's office." Lionel said.

"Okay." Ruby said.

"One more thing, you said that the mission would be happening sooner than we expected, right? Do you know when?" Weiss asked.

"Unfortunately not. It depends entirely on how this whole thing with Blake and Yang goes. As soon as I get any more information, I'll let you two know. Trust me, I want you to be as prepared as possible." Lionel responded.

"Okay. While I'm in this hospital, I'll see if I can get anything through the Schnee network; it's probably not compromised since it is powered by omni-dust. I'll text you anything I find out." Weiss said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea actually. That would be too powerful to be cloaked by the limited aura of someone using a semblance. I'll E-Mail you a list of keywords I want you to find out about." Lionel said.

"No problem." Weiss responded.

"Okay, I guess it's time I make my leave." Lionel said as he packed up his laptop.

"Good luck, Lionel." Ruby said.

"Indeed. Be well on your mission." Weiss added.

"I appreciate it, but I don't need luck." Lionel said in a cocky tone before opening the door. "I just need a target." He finished as he left the room.

"You're still all dirty from our training this morning, you'd better get cleaned up for the meeting." Weiss stated.

Ruby looked at her scroll. "Oh, I didn't know it was so late already." Ruby said while trailing off at the end.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked.

"I'm just so surprised at how quickly things manage to change…when we all woke up, we expected another day of training and we even planned on going out to eat tonight. Then you and Yang fought, the White Fang attacked and Kidnapped Blake, Yang left, and I have to be partially responsible for an entire Kingdom." Ruby said with worry written on her face.

"I know. What's even more unfortunate is that it took an attack on three of the world's most heavily guarded areas to begin taking this terrorist organization seriously. But, look at history…all of the bad guys are repeatedly appeased or blown off until they do something unspeakable." Weiss said.

"Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it…I think I'm finally understanding that now." Ruby mumbled.

"Yeah, and you're maturing more and more every day. That's why you're such a good leader…and you'll make an even better huntress." Weiss said with a smile.

"Thank you." Ruby said as Weiss embraced her in another hug.

"Now head back to the dorms and get cleaned up." Weiss said, still holding onto Ruby.

"I'll have a bit of time after a shower, and I'll be heading close to the Medical Ward on my way to Ozpin's…do you want me to pick you up something to eat?" Ruby asked.

"No. I have to wait for my endoscopy results before they let me eat anything. Thank you though." Weiss said.

"Oh. Well, let me know if you find out anything new." Ruby said as she began heading to the door.

"I'll be sure to keep you in the loop. And as soon as I'm all fixed up, I'll be right there with you." Weiss said reassuringly. Ruby stood at the door, just staring at Weiss as she laid in bed. "Is something wrong?" The heiress asked.

"No. I'll see you later." Ruby said as she opened the door to leave her hospital room.

Weiss' heart suddenly sank as she realized she was alone in the room. " _Why does that always happen…why her? Why are my feelings so strong? I don't know what to do._ " Weiss wondered while lying down to rest.


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

* * *

"Authorization: C-3564-0155-84. Perimeter F-04: clear." A White Fang guard said through his headset.

"Confirmed, station F-04. Next scheduled call-in will be at 0200 hours." Another voice rang over the headset.

"Understood." The guard said again. Before he could even look the other direction, a hand was covering his mouth as a terrible pain reverberated through his body. He tried to remove the hand from his mouth with his right arm as a hot liquid substance covered his left. After just a few seconds, all movement ceased as he fell to the ground.

"I've got two hours to do this, huh?" Lionel said as he removed his blade from the soldiers back. "I'd better get to work." He finished as he took the soldiers headset, plugged his scroll into the USB port, and began transferring any data he could find as well as tapping into their communication network.

"That should be good for now." Lionel said as he looked at the swampy forest through his left monocle-like targeting apparatus. The roof of the forest was vast, almost completely eradicating any presence of sunlight on the forest floor. This allowed for some of the deadliest animals and Grimm alike to scour the forest untamed. So deadly, in fact, that the different surveillance stations used by the White Fang didn't even allow their members to go to the forest floor, but instead used a serious of bridges immediately under the treetops creating an almost treehouse-like base.

There were only two things keeping this outpost from looking like a tribal group's home. The first being the very center of the outpost, housing one of the White Fang's major Vale operation centers, and the second being the main surveillance towers themselves. With the exception of these two, the entire outpost looked like a forest with very little happenings…or assumed very little happenings since it is too dangerous for anyone to venture out. The area was located on an island east of Vale, remaining on the same continent, and is dangerously close to one of the most important trade routes between both Atlas and Mistral. If they chose to begin a civil war within Vale, taking control of the so-called 'Triangle Trade' due to the direction of the trade routes themselves, would deal a major blow. This route is the source of over a third of Mistral's food source and losing it could mean Kingdom-wide rationing and government investments in farming which would cut other important budgets for things like healthcare, education, and the military. It's the main cargo route for over half of Vale's dust and nearly a quarter of Mistral's dust, so their respective militaries and police would be crippled, making it easier for the White Fang. And it is owned by the Schnee Dust Company generating almost forty percent of their revenue. Since Atlas relies heavily on the SDC's economic monopoly, they would take a massive hit as well and would be forced to consolidate resources. " _Needless to say, if I can get an accurate reading on their coordinates, we're going to bomb the hell out of them._ " Lionel thought as he picked up the body of the guard he just eliminated.

The center of operations was built around the trees on the forest floors, using the natural foliage as camouflage. Much more isn't known about the operations center due to such a lack of scouting in this region. " _Guess I'll be finding out more soon._ " Lionel thought as he began to lower himself from one of the towers after placing the guard's corpse in a chair that was still open to see. " _No one should notice since it's night. It won't matter after two o'clock, but at least I shouldn't be ratted out before then._ " He thought calmly as he began to scan the three possible bridges to take.

The Main surveillance towers, however, were very well disguised. Any animal, Grimm, or lay-person would simply mistake them for trees or a cellular-scroll-tower, at best. There were many surveillance towers scattered around in different positions. Sectors A through J with six perimeters for each Sector. " _That's a total of sixty towers…I'll try to stay on the DL. Maybe I'll only attack forty-four more towers._ " Lionel joked as he chose his path through the forest bridges.

As he made his way across the bridges, he began to find many piles of animals and Grimm in some areas. One tower even had a room below the bridges designed to throwing out anything dead. " _That's probably from their command center. It makes a lot of noise and light, which attracts a lot of predators, who need to be killed. This must be one of the places where they dispose of them._ " Lionel said as he continued across the bridge. The piles of animal and Grimm corpses did attract a lot more animals and Grimm as well. " _That might be the plan. Attract them here, so there will be less at the command center. If I can find more piles, I can potentially triangulate the position of the main base._ " Lionel thought as he made it to the next tower. He looked inside to see the guard completely asleep. "You see? That's why your friend in the other tower got killed." Lionel mockingly whispered as he passed the sleeping guard, not wanting to waste any time unnecessarily.

He heard a thud come from the forest floor behind him and, as he inspected, noticed that there was a garage door-like opening coming from a room below the bridges. He sighed at the thought of the White Fang who had the unfortunate job of throwing alligators and beowolfs out. He ignored it and continued to the next tower, hoping to see a trend of animal and Grimm graveyards. " _Yang is a great fighter…but do I dare hold out hope that she is capable of making it to the command center unnoticed?_ " Lionel wondered.

A faint muffling could be heard from where the animal and Grimm disposal site was. He turned back around expecting to see one of the beasts still clinging for dear life. Instead, he was greeted with the site of one of the White Fang struggling to stand up from the forest floor. Upon closer inspection, one could see that his hands were tied behind his back with chains and his mouth was gagged. When he finally stood, no less than four alligators began slowly making their way out of the swamp and coming toward him. He was terrified as he looked back up to where he had fallen with fear in his eyes before finally turning to run.

Lionel glanced at the area where he had fallen from, also, and saw another White Fang standing with his back facing the open forest floor. His hands were tied, but he was frantically speaking to someone in the room with him, though the roof was covering the second person. They kicked him closer to the edge and one could see that he was trying his hardest to help that person with what they wanted, but it wasn't enough. A bag was placed on his head, tied tightly around his neck, and he was punched in the stomach before being kicked out to the forest floor. " _Poor bastards._ " Lionel thought as he stood and began running in random directions. The Knight-General looked back at the opening expecting to see Yang but was surprised that the figure he saw had short black hair.

"I know that she is here, but now I've got another variable to work with." Lionel whispered to himself as the door to the disposal room closed.

As Lionel made his way through the forest, he did, in fact, begin noticing a trend of the piles of corpses leading away from a single location. He deduced that the command center was slightly North and mostly East of his current location. " _For the life of me, I think these bridges just go in a big circle around the central base. Looks like I have to go down through one of the towers to find a safe path toward the base. Makes sense, though…A hallway is much easier to guard that a rickety wooden bridge._ " Lionel thought as he began getting closer to the next tower.

He glanced inside the top room and was relieved to see that he was facing the back of one of the White Fang. Lionel slowly stepped inside of the canopy of the surveillance nest and snuck up behind the guard. Just like with the first guard, he struggled for a few seconds as the warm liquid rushed out but soon gave up. He propped the body up against the wall and found a hatch on the floor which opened to a staircase leading down.

The tower, seemingly, had no hallway but was just a series of rooms stacked on top of one another with a single spiral staircase climbing vertically up the tower. " _Talk about maximizing every square inch._ " Lionel thought as he made his way down, looking for any indication of a hidden hallway or path through the forest floor that the White Fang might use to get to their command base and back.

" _Even if I have to use a food supply line to get there, that would be fine. They can't just throw them in these towers without food and equipment…there has to be some path they use._ " Lionel pondered as he snuck down the staircase. There was a total of six floors; the top was the surveillance nest, the second from the top was the armory…or a mini version of it, the third and fourth down were dorms, the fifth was the mess hall, and the sixth were the bathrooms, showers, and lockers. " _I only ever saw simple first aid kits in each of the rooms, I bet there are a few medics…but they must be pretty damn sure they're not going to get attacked if their only surgery and intensive care units are in the command center. Bold._ " Lionel thought in an almost admiring attitude.

As Lionel reached the bathrooms, he saw that the staircase continued going down. " _Are they not even going to try and hide it?_ " he wondered. He continued down the staircase that opened up to a small room with one notable detail. This room, barely six-by-six feet, had one of its walls replaced by the must heavy-duty, industrial door Lionel had ever seen. The leaders of the world's security bunkers, which Lionel had a hand in building, had nothing compared to this. He was at least twenty feet underground from how far down the staircase went. One side of the wall was littered with pipes running up and down the wall. Obviously, that was for the plumbing and fresh water for the tower above him, but what caught his eye was the massive valves connected to each of the pipes. They were about a foot thick and, if activated, would cut off water and fresh air to the tower.

The ceiling above him was around four feet of pure cement, from what he remembered while going down the staircase, and since the pipes led below him, he assumed there were water purifiers and air recirculation units below this almost impenetrable room. Lionel pulled out his scroll and began to search through his contacts until he found the private chat he was in with the leaders of the four Academies with a few select others. "I don't think they have a central command center on the surface like we originally thought…I think this entire base is underground and so well fortified that it could withstand a nuclear explosion." Lionel said to himself as he typed the same words on his scroll. He proceeded to take a picture of the door and send it as well.

"So I guess bombing is out of the question…" Lionel said. He pressed the button on his gloves until he heard the familiar hissing that he had become so accustomed to over the years. He stretched his back and arms, readying himself to activate his semblance to a much greater extent than he had in years. When the hissing completed, his pupils dilated and his body's vascularity increased ten-fold. In under a second, he completely vanished.

* * *

He moved with a purpose. With every slash of his blade and every twist of his body, he earned another successful blow on his enemy. Each slash disarmed them, injured them, or killed them. It was five-on-one…well, now three-on-one, and one of the few remaining had just his leg sliced clean off. Unlike a certain Knight-General, this man loved conflict and was fully confident in his skill to eliminate the enemy without alerting the rest if the base.

"You crazy fucking monster!" The now monopedal White Fang screamed.

"So you guys don't like it when you get called names, but you'll do it to us? That's called hypocrisy, my friend." The swordsman said.

"Fuck you!" The White Fang yelled as he pulled a small revolver from his jacket and fired at the swordsman.

The bullet simply bounced off his aura. "Sorry, pal…you're gonna need that piece of equipment over there if you wanna get through my aura." The swordsman said as he pointed to the standard issue anti-matter accelerated energy rifle the White Fang 'confiscated' from military outposts. "Oh, wait…you were holding that when I disarmed you…right? Whoops." The swordsman said mockingly.

The swordsman ducked by crouching causing one of the other White Fang to miss him with their sword and go tumbling in front of him. Before he could gather his bearings, the swordsman was right next to him and knocked the blade out of his hands. He then turned his own blade to have the flat surface of the blade facing the White Fang before hitting him in the side of the head with it, knocking him out immediately.

He turned around to the last White Fang soldier who had already dropped his weapon and was on his knees holding his necklace of a religious idol while praying. He began to walk toward the praying soldier but stopped as he neared the one-legged White Fang, who was considerably quieter due to all of his blood loss. The swordsman placed the tip of his blade right over his chest and swiftly sent the blade into his body, killing his instantly.

"Hey, you!" The swordsman called out to the praying White Fang which caused him to flinch. The White Fang stood and looked at him. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Fredric." The White Fang soldier said.

"What's a guy like you doing working for terrorists?" The swordsman asked.

"We're not terrorists…we are fighting for our basic rights." Fredric said.

"…by terrorizing people?" The swordsman asked.

Fredric was clearly very afraid, "We don't terrorize people, we–"

"Kill civilians. Steal from hard-working people. Attack three high schools who are training kids fight to Grimm. Sounds like terror to me." The swordsman said.

"They aren't civilians, they perpetuate racism. Those we steal from aren't hard-working, they exploit faunus labor. And those hunting schools don't give faunus the same rights as the humans that apply there." Fredric stated.

The swordsman pulled out his scroll and pulled up a picture of the wreckage from when General Ironwood's ship crashed into the ground during the White Fang attacks. "You guys mostly steal from the Schnee Dust Company, who do exploit Faunus labor…so I'll give you that. But…what does that say?" he asked as he pointed to a sign in the rubble.

"Lazarus Universitat. Men chen and Faunus baun in besser Zukenft Zusmen?" Fredric said as best he could.

"Lazarus Universität. Menschen und Faunus bauen eine bessere Zukunft. Zusammen." The swordsman corrected. "That is…was…a university in Atlas that was destroyed in the explosion." He said.

Fredric was confused, to say the least. "Like I said, Humans can't –"

"That is Atlesian for 'Lazarus University. Humans and Faunus building a better tomorrow. Together'. It was a university funded by the old White Fang that had a student population of over seventy percent faunus. And most of them are dead thanks to the White Fang's terrorism." The swordsman informed.

"Adam would have told us if there were faunus in the line of fire." Fredric said.

The swordsman pulled up the news coverage of the rescue efforts for the students. "I see mostly faunus getting pulled out of the rubble. Human and faunus civilians getting saved by human and faunus firefighters, policemen, and doctors. Not to mention that the stuff you said about humans and faunus not getting the same placement in schools is garbage. Faunus who sympathize with the White Fang doesn't get accepted because they don't want shitheads at the schools. Just like how Human supremacist sympathizers don't get accepted for the same reason. They're trying to build a better, more unified community while you fools try and tear it all down with lies." The swordsman said calmly.

"No. Adam has always been right. He said that you would try to trick us and tell us that we're murders and thieves…but I won't listen. The White Fang is the only option." Fredric said.

"Oh well, I tried…" The swordsman said as he used his sword to push the dead White Fang off toward the large door. "To be honest, I was never really the best at being the superhero…but, I don't want to say I'm the antihero, either. I'm basically the friend that will push you in the pool to teach you how to swim, but I would stand by to make sure you don't drown…yeah, that's a pretty good description." The swordsman stated as he began walking back to the White Fang he knocked out earlier. "I also firmly believe everyone must live with the consequences of their actions." He finished as he pulled a chain from a shelf on the wall.

He grabbed the arms of the unconscious White Fang soldier and made quick work of tying his hands behind his back. "What are you going to do?" Fredric asked as he watched the swordsman slapped the White Fang soldier until he woke up.

"I'm looking for someone. Well, two people actually, but I'm only worried about one. She has long, blonde hair, wears mostly revealing clothes, uses very colorful language, and is more-than-likely covered in a lot of White Fang blood. Seen or heard anything?" The swordsman asked as he stood up and walked back to the last White Fang.

"No. It's been a quiet night. Nothing particularly strange has happened before this." Fredric said when the recently awoken White Fang said nothing. Again, the swordsman picked up a chain and tied the last White Fang's arms behind his back and walked him over to the door.

"Oh, those are the night's you have to be most vigilant." The swordsman said. "Nothing else to say?" he asked as he pressed a button on the wall causing the door to open like a garage door.

"Wait…wait, wait, wait! What are you…" Fredric asked before his mouth was stuffed with cloth and duct tape was wrapped around his mouth and head four times. The swordsman kicked the three dead bodies out of the room first, watching them land on a pile of Grimm and animal corpses.

"Goodbye, Fredric." The swordsman said as he pushed the White Fang out the door and watched him fall to the pile and roll to the ground. he walked back inside and grabbed the last White Fang who had finally come to reality.

"No! Stop…just shoot me, don't throw me out there." The White Fang pleaded as he was pushed close to the edge of the opening.

"I'm looking for someone. She has long, blonde hair, revealing clothes, uses gauntlets as a weapon…any of that ringing a bell?" the swordsman asked.

"No. But, please, I'll give you whatever you need. I can show you where the armory is. Or the dorms…please don't throw me out there." The White Fang begged.

"What about the Knight-General. Heard anything new about him lately?" The swordsman asked.

"He went on a secret mission recently." The White Fang stated.

"I know that…he's here. I just need to know where." The swordsman said as he kicked the soldier in the stomach, sending him back a few steps.

"I…I…please…I can help some other way…please…" the White Fang cried.

"Hmmm. Nope." The swordsman said as pulled a sack from off the ground and placed it over the White Fang soldiers head. The soldier tried to say something else, but the swordsman began pulling the strings of the sack to tight around his neck, that the soldier couldn't get a single work out. The swordsman finished by tying the sack around his neck just as tight and in the most meticulous knots possible before punching him in the stomach and kicking him off the edge.

The swordsman looked out to see the first White Fang nowhere in sight, but a path that a few animals took through the forest meaning that he was running for dear life. The second made his way up to his feet before picking a direction and running for his life as well. The swordsman walked back over to the wall and pressed the button to close the gate again. "Alright, I have to get to their base, somehow." He said to himself as he began walking back to the staircase.

Upon descending the staircase fully, he noticed that a massive door was blocking his path. " _So…it's a bomb-shelter-base. Interesting._ " The swordsman thought. He punched the door in an annoyed way, not putting any strength in it but was surprised to hear a voice call out after a few seconds.

"What?" A groggy voice called out.

The swordsman thought quick. "Fredric fell out into the forest." He said.

"Are you serious?" the voice asked.

"No. I always make jokes about my friends dying." The swordsman said sarcastically but also in an extremely annoyed manner.

"Alright, smartass." The voice said before the door began to open from the ceiling first. The moment the White Fang on the other side of the door's face was revealed, it has a blade half way through his head.

"Who're you callin' a smartass, dumbass?" The swordsman said as he pulled his blade out and began walking down the hallway. It was empty as far as the eye could see, but he noted that the solid cement ceiling had two tiles on it, side-by-side, every fifteen feet. " _Turrets…definitely turrets. And since this hallway is empty, there would be no cover. If I assume that they're anti-matter turrets, I probably wouldn't even risk it._ " He thought as he made his way down the hall, hoping that they wouldn't activate.

" _Bombs probably won't work…if these are the only ways in, invasion probably won't work…how the hell will we take over this place?_ " he thought as he quickly made his way down the hall.


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

* * *

"Sweet mother of Remnant…this hallway must go on for at least a quarter mile; it's amazing that the turrets haven't activated. They must not be motion-sensor activated." Lionel said as he made his way through the long hallway. The end was finally in sight after nearly ten minutes of walking. The entire hallway was completely White with a vertical hanging White Fang flag every ten feet or so on both walls. There was a single, circular light at the same intervals as the flags keeping the hallway completely lit. The only other thing that was different about the hallway was the obvious turrets that were embedded in the ceiling hidden by tiles.

" _There's no way they don't know I'm here. I'm good; really good…but for there to be no resistance in the only entrance to their base? No. They have to be waiting for me. That or they found Yang and have inadvertently allowed me through as well._ " Lionel thought as he neared the end of the hallway to be met by the same door as the beginning of the hall. Just as before, he pressed a button which was quickly followed by a hissing noise. He vanished once again, appearing on the other side of the door behind a large cargo box. As he looked around, he saw a door on two sides of the room, on opposite sides of each other.

"Yeah, put those over there." A White Fang lieutenant said as he ordered around the lower level grunts.

"Why's there so much shit this time?" the first soldier asked.

"Uhh…because this will be the last time we get a resupply before he's ready." The lieutenant stated.

" _Four soldiers…_ " Lionel thought as he pondered taking them out. He decided against it believing any more information they can give him wound be more beneficial.

"Who is this guy, anyway? Why are the higher-ups so meticulous about this? Is he some kind of major benefactor?" the second soldier asked aloud.

"Don't know. They don't tell me who, just that he's really important. That what this whole Grimm DNA is about…I guess the higher-ups want to give it to him or something." The lieutenant informed.

"He must be paying a pretty penny for them is we're putting as much effort into getting them as we have been." The first soldier stated.

"No kidding. We lost quite a few people in those kamikaze attacks." The third soldier said.

"Let's not forget, they signed up for that job willingly." The lieutenant said.

"Yeah, but that don't change the fact that we lost some good soldiers." The third soldier said.

"Whatever. That's the last of the cargo." The first soldier said, changing the subject.

"Alright." The lieutenant said as he walked to the corner of the room. "Ursa Company ready for transport. Authorization: B-3561-2048-05." He stated into an intercom.

"Confirmed, Ursa Company. Transport in sixty seconds." A voice stated over the intercom.

" _I need to take Team RWBY on a few stealth missions. This is a perfect example of why we don't shoot first and ask questions later. Yang._ " Lionel thought before the ground began to shake under him. The floor began to lower, slowly at first, before picking up a steady pace. After lowering about ten feet, the area above them began to shake as a massive horizontal door began to close over the top of them. The large door, which was easily about three feet thick, closed immediate above the doors that he had noticed earlier. This lead to the idea that there were probably just a few elevators like this that transported people and supplies up to the surface towers, all of which are connected by those small doors which were connected to a series of the turret-infested hallways. Before it closed completely, Lionel could only see rock and dirt outside of the elevator. Lionel began to strategize many potential plans of attack, " _This entrance must be in a deep hole in a cave. I wonder how many elevators there are? If we can find the locations of all of them, we can probably drill through the door and just drop bombs on–_ "

Lionel's thoughts were interrupted by the loud sound of another horizontal door closing. " _Never mind. Perhaps dropping tons of thermite on them and watching it melt through both –_ "

Another door closing again interrupted his thoughts. " _This is bullshit. Three impenetrable doors? How long have they been down here building all of this? Who funded them?_ " Lionel pondered as the elevator began to slow down until it came to a complete stop. He noticed that he was in the corner of a massive, square room with a large, cylindrical structure in the center of the room acting as both a building and a central support column. Though he was hidden behind the cargo box in the small elevator room, he realized he was now in the open from the room elevator landed in.

Lionel immediately ran to the nearest thing he could, which just so happened to be a group of deactivated Atlesian knights. He looked to the other side of the room and saw another elevator in the corner and the side of a third elevator behind the central structure. " _So, there's probably four elevators. One in each corner; good to know…I guess._ " He thought as he pulled out a gas powered gun. He aimed at the corner of the elevator ha came from and fired the weapon, which made almost no noise as a tracking device flew out and connected itself to the elevator. He reloaded the weapon and did the same to the other two elevators that he could see, leaving only one left.

"Alright guys, I'm heading back to my office. That's all for now; head back to your dorms and get some sleep." The lieutenant stated as he began heading toward the cylindrical structure. The three soldiers followed soon behind, all of them passing another group of White Fang who was turning on their forklifts and lifting equipment.

" _They'll probably go and put the cargo way for them…I doubt they're soldiers._ " Lionel thought as the lieutenant and his soldiers entered the central structure before turned in different directions. Lionel quickly made his way to parked forklift to get closer to the entrance and to get a better view of the White Fang and also revealing the final elevator. The lieutenant was heading up a flight of stairs in the center of the structure. The staircase widened at the bottom, allowing enough people to make their way up and down around the elevator at the base of the stairs. The soldiers stood on the elevator before it took them down even further.

Lionel looked around to see many defensive positions in the central structure and scattered around on the walls. " _This is their primary defensive position. It's pretty good, too…only four entrances and they have a perfectly clear view, the high ground, entrenched positions. Yeah, no one invading through those elevators would survive._ " Lionel thought as he continued to avoiding the cargo workers while making his way closer to the central structure. Before entering the structure, he pulled his tracking gun out and fired at the last elevator.

Lionel looked before entering the structure but was unsurprised when he saw no one. " _It is late…or early technically._ " He thought as he entered the structure. He looked around and saw a door on each side of the bottom floor saying 'staircase' on a sign. He quickly made his way to the door and entered only to see at least twenty flights of stairs. " _Coming back up is going to suck…_ " he moaned internally before looking at his scroll to check the time. " _1:18. I've got about forty more minutes before someone figures out something is happening._ " He finished before heading down the stairs.

* * *

"Don't you have another meeting tonight?" Weiss asked as she continued her physical therapy.

"Yeah, but I want to be here until then to cheer you on!" Ruby stated.

"This is hardly difficult. I keep telling them I don't need to PT, but they won't listen." Weiss complained.

"C'mon Weiss, they know best." Ruby said.

"No, I'm aware of my body's needs…and it doesn't need this." Weiss said.

"It'll only be until tomorrow. When they leave the room, just take the time to do some harder exercises. Y'know, stuff that you think your body does need." Ruby explained.

"I know. But, seriously, you should go ahead and get to that meeting. Being late won't look good on you." Weiss said, changing the subject.

"Fine. But I'll be back afterward; tomorrow is Sunday and we're going to have some fun. We haven't gotten a chance to enjoy ourselves since the White Fang attack." Ruby said.

"That's because this isn't the time for relaxation. No one is saying it, but a war is about to start." Weiss said sternly. "This time next year, either we'll be dead or they will…there is no in between." Weiss finished sending Ruby a cold stare.

"I know that, Weiss. That's the kind of stuff that Ozpin and the other headmasters are all talking about. I just want to get away from it for a little bit…it's kind of stressful." Ruby said quietly.

"Didn't you tell Lionel that you could handle it? Do you think he worries about stress?" Weiss asked in a scolding manner.

"No; he takes vacations! All I'm asking for is one day to just hang out with you!" Ruby retorted.

Weiss sighed in defeat. "Just don't get complacent. I don't want you getting hurt." She said in a worrying tone.

"You're always worrying about me, now. You're like Yang." Ruby giggled.

"Don't compare me to that brute. But, we both don't want you getting into trouble…Blake too. In the past few months, we've grown together quite easily. Almost like…" Weiss trailed off.

"Almost like we've done it before." Ruby said. "I agree, it's surprising how well we work together." Ruby said as she stood up and walked toward Weiss.

"I know. But I can't figure out why." Weiss said still looking down at her weights on the rack before being embraced by the young leader.

"I'm going to ask the group if I can bring you to the meetings after today." Ruby said. "You'd be really helpful." She finished as she released her teammate.

"I don't know. They might want it to be as private as possible." Weiss said.

"Yeah, but Ozpin lets Glynda come, and some of the other headmasters allow their disciplinary heads to come, as well. Besides, your 'Schnee connections' would be a big help." Ruby said.

"I hope I still have them…from what Lionel has said in the past, my father might be up to some things far worse than indentured servitude." Weiss explained monotonously.

"Yeah, I heard. That's one of the things we covered in the meetings. But I trust you, and so will they. Ozpin was even talking about my uncle getting a chance to join in on the meetings, but he couldn't get a hold of him." Ruby explained, becoming sad when she mentioned her uncle's lack of communication.

"He's probably on a hunt right now." Weiss said. "He will join whenever he's done with his business." Weiss said.

"I know…I just wish he'd tell us when he leaves for a hunt…" Ruby said with a sad expression.

Weiss places her hand under Ruby's chin and lifted her head. "No pouting, General. You have to keep your head up for morale's sake." Weiss mocked.

"Very funny." Ruby joked. "I should probably go now…like I said, we're gonna have some fun tomorrow." She stated.

"That's fine, but you have to make up for it by training extra hard on Monday." Weiss said.

"Deal." Ruby said as she began walking to the door.

"And…thank you for visiting. Having a friend nearby made the recovery easier." Weiss said.

Ruby smiled. "You'd do the same for me." She finished before walking out the door to head to her meeting.

Weiss' smile slowly faded as she looked around the gym. " _Push myself harder…_ " she thought as she saw the squatting rack.

Ruby walked swiftly down the hall, not letting her emotions get the better of her. She knew now was not the time since Ozpin had informed each of the members that he had received an update from the Knight-General. Ruby had contacted him once since his departure, so she knew he had gone somewhere east of Vale since the time he gave was about three hours ahead of their current location. " _The meeting starts at 10:30 and Ozpin sent us a message saying that he had just received information from Lionel. That was at 9:58…I wonder what he found out?_ " Ruby wondered as she made her way to the elevator that led to Ozpin's office.

Ruby pulled out her scroll to take a look at the time. " _10:29; perfect timing._ " She thought as the elevator reached the top of the tower. The doors slid open, revealing the other seven members of our 'antiterrorist task force' as Jaune called it.

"Perfect timing, Rose." Coco said with her signature smirk. Ozpin's office looked completely normal, with the exception of four chairs that had been added for the four students to sit at, immediately on the other side of Ozpin's desk. Ruby made her way over to a chair and sat in between Jaune and Coco, leaving Cardin farther to the left, much to everyone's, and his, pleasure.

The holograms on the table activated revealing the forms of each of the academy's headmasters as well as their own respective student task forces. The holograms were a miniature version so that all of them could fit on the table and everyone could see one another. "Now that we've all arrived, let us begin with the message the Knight-General left us. I know us headmasters already know about it, but I want to reveal it to everyone else present." Ozpin began. "It states, Quote, 'I don't think they have a central command center on the surface like we originally thought…I think this entire base is underground and so well fortified that it could withstand a nuclear explosion.' Unquote." Ozpin stated clearly.

"We had planned on bombing the base if he found it. What do you think we should do now? Invasion?" Ironwood asked.

"He sent a second message; a picture." Glynda said as she activated another hologram showing the picture Lionel sent them.

"That's a helluva door." Coco stated.

"Indeed." Ironwood added.

"There's no way we could break through that without heavy machinery, and judging from the room he's in, we're not going to fit anything beyond a single squad of soldiers in there." Jaune said.

"Enough explosives would probably open the door…but even if we did that, that room is so small and without cover. We'd likely be massacred by whatever is on the other side." Glynda said.

"I agree. Have we received any more information from him?" the Shade Academy headmaster asked.

"No, but we should be expecting more soon." Ozpin said.

"If bombing and invasion are completely ruled out, what else can we do? We can't nuke it…the Triangle Trade is too close, right?" Cardin said.

"Yes. What about drilling? Could we drill a tunnel and hit them from the side?" Jaune asked.

"If we find out exact coordinates, then yes. However, they will likely hear us coming and will be prepared." Ozpin said.

"Realistically, what are our options?" Ironwood asked no one in particular. "Ozpin?" Ironwood asked when he noticed what he thought was Ozpin staring into space.

Ozpin did not acknowledge Ironwood's questioning as he was looking at Ruby. She had her eyes downcast, deep in thought. "Ruby? Would you care to participate?" Ozpin asked calmly.

"I…I don't think it's practical…" ruby started.

Ozpin grinned behind his folded hands which were resting in front of his mouth. "Please. Elaborate." He stated.

"We know that he entered this area from one of the watchtowers out there because of the pre-mission report. We've all seen the pictures; the towers are really thin and not able to accept aerial supply drops." Ruby started.

"We know that; this room is probably the connection from which they receive their supplies." Ironwood said.

"Exactly. But if what Lionel said is true and the base is underground, then we have to ask: how does the central base gets its' supplies?" Ruby continued with more confidence than before. "There's not any ocean close enough for any ships or submarines to dock there and if the base is underground, then they can't receive aerial shipments either. They have to have a larger docking area, somewhere, designed for taking massive amounts of cargo. An area connected to the surface." Ruby explained.

Ozpin's grin turned to a full-blown smile. "And what makes you think that it isn't even more defended?" he asked.

"It probably is, but it would give us more space and room to modify our plans." Ruby stated. Before anyone else could make another statement, the headmaster's scrolls began to vibrate.

Ozpin picked up his scroll and glanced at what he received. "It would seem Lionel has given us more information." He said as he pulled up the pictures in holographic form. The first was a picture of a large elevator with a small tracking device on it. The text sent under it said, 'Cargo elevator to the surface; there are four of them. Tracking device planted on all of them but is too far underground to be of any use right now. Active the tracker and wait for them to receive another supply shipment. The elevators have three massive doors, even larger than the one I sent earlier, but is otherwise not defended at the top. DO NOT INVADE through the door I showed earlier as the other side is littered with turrets and no cover. Invading through this area is a possibility, but the base of the elevator does not have any cover either and is under constant watch. Best case scenario is to drop Atlesian knights/paladins through here.'

"It would seem you were spot on Rose." Coco said with a grin.

There was also one other picture and a video displayed in a holographical form. The picture showed the inside of a building he was currently in and the text below it read, 'Central structure and support for the cargo bay. Up the stairs leads to offices and probably an armory, going down takes you to the base.' The video, which was playing on a loop like a .gif file, was about seven seconds long. It started at the elevator and slowly panned across the room allowing for everyone so see the defensive structures they had set up. Eventually, the video showed the massive cylindrical-like structure, that he mentioned in his previous picture before the video looped again.

"From what it looks like right now, we only have the option of invasion from the cargo bay. However, they must realize that any possible invasion would come from that area, as well. To me, I don't see any form of advanced tactics or strategy working…we'll need sheer force and numbers to get through, given this is the only way in." Ironwood stated.

"Agreed." Jaune said followed by a nod of agreement coming from each of the students and headmasters.

"Then I will begin gathering troops in addition to as many Atlesian Knights and Paladins as the brass will allow. Tomorrow's meeting, we will discuss our plan of attack; specifically, we need to know who's going in and when. Our Atlesian Knights and Paladins will only serve to get us past the initial stages of the assault. After that, all we will need are those coordinates." Ironwood explained.

"With permission, I would like to let Weiss join us for tomorrow's meeting. Her connections within the Schnee Dust Company could get us more help." Ruby said.

"Granted." Ozpin and Ironwood said.

"Is there anything else that needs discussing?" Ironwood asked.

"No. I only called this late meeting tonight to share Lionel's information with you all." Ozpin said.

"Very well. Tomorrow night, expect a very long meeting." Ironwood said as his hologram faded along with the other headmasters and students.

"Normally I'd volunteer for the assault but…" Ruby trailed off.

"But, the Knight-General asked us to remain here to defend Vale. You really want to fight the White Fang that much?" Jaune asked.

"Not really…but I'm sure that is where Yang is…and probably Blake, too. It feels wrong to just stay back instead of helping rescue them." Ruby stated.

"Unfortunately, we can't always be there for our friends. Sometimes, we have to trust that they are capable of taking care of themselves." Ozpin said.

"We've taken up enough of your time. Get some rest and be ready tomorrow…if we're sending a force to assault one of the White Fang's largest bases, then we'll have fewer responders here to help out. That makes your job just as important." Glynda said before each of the students stood up and began to walk toward the door.

Just as each of the students entered the elevator, as a massive shockwave of aura flew through the entire room, instantly giving Ruby one of the worst migraines she had ever had. She fell to her knees as blood began to run from her nose.

"Woah! Are you alright, Ruby?" Jaune asked as he knelt down to help her.

"Yeah. What about you guys? What happened?" Ruby asked.

"Ummm. We're fine…and what do you mean?" Jaune asked in confusion.

Ruby opened her eyes and looked up to see everyone noticeable worries, but general unconcerned with the shockwave that entered the room. "Didn't you feel that?" Ruby asked quietly.

"Feel what, Rose?" Coco asked.

Another shockwave of aura blasted the room, making more blood pour from Ruby's nose and some from her ears. "What is that?!" Ruby asked in a panicked tone.

"What do you mean?" Cardin asked.

"Please get Miss Rose to the infirmary, it appears she's having a bad migraine." Ozpin said which caused Ruby to open her eyes again. She looked forward and saw Ozpin's legs, but he was just as unfazed as the rest of the people around her. There was a hint of a purple haze floating in the air all around the room.

There started a silent ringing in Ruby's ear. It grew louder; first a white noise, then a hum, then a noticeable roar from a beast like nothing she had ever heard before. "Savior…" the voice roared. "…you have had your time to dither…" the roar said. It was a monstrous howl, worse than any Beowolf or Ursa; she tried to cover her ears and keep her eyes shut, but the roar continued to talk. "…your peace is fragile…your society is weak…you will fall…" the roar stated. "…and I will start with the ones you love, so that this time, you will face me alone…and you will die with the rest of this planet." The roar finished as silence returned to Ruby's head. She uncovered her ears and opened her eyes only to be met with a monstrous figure coated in a black sheen so that it looked like a shadow. Ruby tried as hard as she could to call for help, but she was frozen. The only thing she could do was cry.

* * *

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled as Ruby's eyes shot open.

"Thank Remnant." Jaune said, relieved.

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"When we got in the elevator, you just collapsed." Jaune said.

"I…just collapsed?" Ruby said in confusion.

"Yeah…do you know what happened?" Jaune asked.

"No, that's why I asked you what happened." Ruby said.

"You never asked me anything. We got in the elevator and you just fell unconscious." Jaune explained.

"So, that never happened?" Ruby whispered.

"I assume you were dreaming something pretty bad because you were crying a second ago…so, yeah. It never happened." Jaune said.

Weiss held Ruby in her arms as she shivered. "Thank you for bringing me here, Jaune." She said in a calm tone.

"Anytime. You get some rest; it'll help you calm down. We've got a big day tomorrow." Jaune said with worry as he made his way out.

Weiss wanted to help Ruby any way she could. "Do you want to tell me–"

"No. Don't worry." Ruby interrupted as she stayed still in Weiss arms until she fell back to sleep.


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

* * *

 **Author's Note** :Sorry about the slightly late posting, things got a little hectic last night. Exam after exam...oh, well. At least I'm one-third of the way done with the semester now. One thing I have noticed is that writing papers and essays are significantly easier now. It's probably because of this story, which has been at least ten pages long, every week, with the exception of the prologue. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and I will see you guys next week.

Please review and donate to my Take-Over-The-World fund at /

#INeverGetAnyRest

* * *

"How are you feeling today, Ruby?" Weiss asked.

"Better. I think I might have just had a panic attack, yesterday…" Ruby explained.

"Well, today you can just relax. We're finished with our workout, so what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Weiss asked.

"Whatever you want to do." Ruby replied.

Weiss scoffed. "Weren't you the one who wanted to go out and 'have fun' today?" Weiss mocked playfully.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy yourself." Ruby stated.

"How about something we can both agree on, first? It's almost 1:00…so how about some lunch?" Weiss asked.

"Do you have anywhere in mind?" Ruby asked.

"Right over here, actually…" Weiss said as she pointed across the road. "I saw the special they have today and it sounds pretty good." She finished.

Ruby looked across the street to where Weiss was pointing and saw the sign hanging from the building. "Half off terror-fish? 10.99 lien for a half pound!? Woah, isn't that like a really expensive fish? Why is it so cheap? And aren't they Grimm?" Ruby wondered as they both made their way to the crosswalk.

"Yes, but the Schnee Agricultural Center has been developing an aquarium specifically for those fish, so they have become significantly less expensive since they began selling them to stores and restaurants. They sell for about 17 lien per pound, now." Weiss explained as the cars came to a halt at the red light.

"Then why are the marketing them as half off is that's actually a pretty reasonable price, given that they're trying to make a profit?" Ruby asked as both girls made their way across the street.

"Because our agricultural center only began selling them about 2 weeks ago; there hasn't been enough publicity for people to know that is a simple marketing ploy. The point is: all of the terror-fish will be about this price soon." Weiss finished as the girls entered the restaurant. It was a small store, only having eight tables on the inside, and twelve more outside sitting under umbrellas.

The two girls walked up to the hostess' station. "Just two?" the hostess asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Weiss said.

"Alright, please follow me." The hostess said as she picked up two menus and walked the two girls to a table outside, which was right next to the guardrail that separated the cement ground they were standing on from the ocean.

"Thanks!" Ruby said as she sat down.

"You're very welcome; your server will be with you soon." The hostess said before she walked back to her station.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked causing Weiss to look up. "Your family owns a whole lot of stuff, but you don't talk about them very much. What's your family like?" She asked.

"First, my family doesn't own a lot. My father owns everything." Weiss said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"The Schnee Dust Company was founded by my grandfather; the company owns all of the mines and refineries. My grandfather didn't have much technology to work with in his time, so he was limited in his ability to produce…at least compared to the production we have today. Regardless, he still maintained a diligent workforce for miners and refiners by being fair and compliant with his workers, the majority of which were faunus." Weiss began.

"Is that because of the Faunus Rights Revolution?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. My grandfather was fairly unconcerned with people's feelings, which seems counter-intuitive at first; he only concerned himself with empirical, demonstrable evidence. Because of that, he always believed that faunus and humanity were equal since that is what the evidence suggested…and for his time, that was quite a statement to make. When the Faunus Rights Revolution went into full swing, he created the first faunus union. Its' creation was when he made his most notable speech." Weiss trailed off.

"Yeah. We learn about that in history classes." Ruby stated.

Weiss nodded her head before reciting an excerpt from the speech which has since become iconic for symbolizing freedom. "Here you have a Haven from evil. Make no mistake, however…they will come to make your water run dry and cause your farms fall barren and bring your walls down around you. If you let them. You must, therefore, resolve to defend your sovereignty or die." She said with impeccable annunciation; as though she had memorized it a thousand times.

"He's an awesome guy, trust me…you don't have to try and convince me of that." Ruby said. "I don't mean to sound rude…but what happened?" she asked in a worried tone, thinking she might offend her friend.

"It's not rude at all. When the Faunus Rights Revolution came to an end, he made it a point to create as many jobs as possible, having buildings built at his expense. A plethora of faunus began taking those jobs creating the largest faunus labor force, by a landslide. At the same time, the union that my grandfather created became recognized as an official political party with a new name: The White Fang. When most people compare the current White Fang with the previous version of it, they will say that it like a night and day difference. While I'll freely admit that the first White Fang is far more preferable than the current one, it wasn't perfect." Weis explained before seeing the waiter walk up to their table.

"Hello ladies, my name is Erik, and I'll be your server today. What can I get you two to start out with to drink?" Erik asked.

"I'll take a water, please." Weiss said.

"Sweet tea! And can I get some onion rings?" Ruby stated.

"As an appetizer?" Erik asked.

"Yep!" Ruby replied.

"No problem, I'll be back in a moment." Erik stated before walking away.

"He's nice. Now, what do you mean they weren't perfect?" Ruby asked.

"Though they weren't terrorists, they were certainly more extreme than necessary. They became convinced that the faunus who took my grandfather's job openings were traitorous to the ideals of being free. The old White Fang spoke greatly about self-reliance and independence, not understanding that it had to be earned; when your start with nothing, you have a much harder time rising through the ranks. The believed that my grandfather was leading them on with promises of promotion only to basically re-oppress them. As a result, he was assassinated." Weiss said monotonously.

"Really? I never heard anything about that…" Ruby stated.

"Though the official report states that it was a homicide, it is no secret that the White Fang, even today, celebrate his death and claim it as their own accomplishment. My father was around twenty-five years old, at the time, and developed an intense hatred of the faunus. To be fair, he did only despise the White Fang, at first, but when protests and strikes broke out all around his company and Atlas, in general, he lost the ability to distinguish between the two. He did, for a time, try to ease tensions…but as more faunus fell for the White Fang's lies, he stopped caring. Now he truly does take advantage of faunus labor. And, as I said earlier, my grandfather didn't have much technology in his time; my father, however, has developed countless machines which aid in the process of dust refinement and has personally patented all of them." Weiss explained.

"So that's why the White Fang despises your company so much. To be honest, your dad gave them a reason to." Ruby said.

"I know. He justified their lies." Weiss said as the waiter brought their drinks and sat them on the table. He placed the onion rings right in between the two before pulling out a pad and paper.

"So, what can I get you two to eat?" Erik asked.

"I'll have a grilled terror-fish with a sweet potato salad on the side." Weiss stated.

"Okay…and for you, Miss?" Erik said as he looked at Ruby.

"I'll have a fried terror-fish with french fries on the side." Ruby said before beginning her destruction of the pile of onion rings.

"I'll have it out for you two as soon as possible." Erik said before walking away.

"I don't know what I'm going to do…" Weiss said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"I am the heiress, but I don't want to have to pretend to support my father until the day I take over the company. I wish I could start helping out more, but I know if my father found out about it, he would surely cut me off…and that would be worse. SDC needs new leadership, and I can't allow that to come second to anything." Weiss explained.

"Then do small things. Random acts of kindness or something like that." Ruby said. She looked over to see their waiter entering orders in on the computer. He scratched his head, under the work hat, and saw what looked to be dog ears. "Look." Ruby said as she pointed toward their waiter. "Start there." She said.

"He's a faunus…" Weiss mumbled.

"Yeah, leave him a big tip. That'll make his day." Ruby said in a playful tone.

"I guess that's all I can do right now." Weiss said as she looked out to the ocean to see all of the ships, both commercial and personal, calmly riding through the water.

"Oh. Ozpin said it's okay for you to start coming to the meetings with us." Ruby said, changing the subject.

"That will be good. I need something to take my mind off of these things…" Weiss said.

"I know what you mean…we have the Grimm to worry about, the White Fang, our school…" Ruby said.

"…out friends, our training…personal issues…" Weiss continued.

"Personal? Like with your family?" Ruby wondered.

"Not really…I just don't know what's going on with me right now. I feel like I've become a different person in the past few months." Weiss said.

"Heh…I don't really consider that to be a bad thing when I think back on how you acted when we first met." Ruby said meekly.

Weiss glanced up with an eyebrow raised to which Ruby winced, closing her eyes and expecting a scolding. "Yeah…I'm sorry about that…" Weiss apologized.

Ruby felt a warmth encase her hand before opening her eyes to see Weiss holding her hand. Weiss had her other hand on her chin staring out at the ocean and the ships, momentarily lost in her own thoughts. "You okay?" Ruby asked.

"Yes." Weiss said as she looked back at Ruby, again seeming to be lost in her thoughts as she looked at her. "How are you so strong?" she asked after remaining silent for a few moments.

Ruby began to stammer around her words. "You're really strong, too. No one is the same and we all have our own strengths so…"

"No. I mean you always remain cool and collected during intense, stressful situations. Even when I was scolding you yesterday about wanting to take time off…I was doing to because, at some point, I subconsciously realized how capable you are of handling it. I started pushing you even more before I finally realized that I was putting it all on you so I didn't have to deal with it…I'm sorry about that, too. But seriously, how do you do it?" Weiss asked.

"I'm mean…I'm sure you could do the same." Ruby responded.

"No. I couldn't. If I were leading the Hunt I would have been cussing, worrying myself, and I would have yelled after it was over. But you…you kept your cool during the hunt, you didn't worry, you strategized. You pushed your feelings aside and accomplished the impossible. And then when it was over, you didn't take out frustration over the Hunt…you were mad because you thought that YOU weren't good enough to keep your team safe. You put, literally, everything on you…and then you carry that burden without complaint." Weiss said enviously.

"First of all, 'we' accomplished the impossible, not me. Secondly, if you're talking about cussing and throwing tantrums, I just don't see the point. I don't do that stuff because it won't solve any issues." Ruby said.

"But don't you have some way of relieving anger?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah: Healing." Ruby said.

"I don't follow." Weiss replied.

"If I get stabbed, shot, or cut, cussing won't make me heal any faster. It won't make the pain go away or pay for medical expenses. So, what's the point?" Ruby asked.

"That's what I mean. Most people get mad without thinking. But you think about it all beforehand, and you say you don't see any reason to do so. I've never met anyone else who can do that." Weiss said.

Both of the ladies saw Erik coming with the food. As soon as he exited the door to the building, sirens began going off in the distance. Everyone began looking in the direction of the noise. The ships out in the ocean wee the reason for the siren and, as you looked closer, you could see people waving their arms as though they were trying to get someone's attention. Before anyone could figure out what they were doing, the restaurant that Ruby and Weiss were eating at had been crushed. Everyone inside, and close to the building was dead. Weiss looked at the Erik as his head and shoulders were sticking from the rubble, laying lifeless.

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she grabbed her and fired Crescent Rose so the recoil would carry them away. She landed on top of a building across the street before putting Weiss down.

"What happened?" Weiss asked.

Before Ruby could answer, a massive tentacle was raised from the wreckage of the building. The appendage was easily as thick as a school bus. In the distance, all of the ships could be seen capsizing, one after the other, courtesy of the monster.

"Is that a Kraken?!" Ruby asked.

"They don't come this far inland!" Weiss yelled.

"They're not supposed the come this far inland." Ruby yelled before pulling out her scroll and activating the distress signal. Sirens all across the city began going off as Ozpin, as well as most of the other meeting staff, joined a group call immediately after.

"Miss Rose, what is happening?" Ozpin asked.

"A Kraken is attacking near the harbor!" Ruby said before turning the phone's video call on and showing the beast destroying ships.

"The military has been notified, but we're mobilizing the students to help get the civilians to safety. Not including us, we have nine volunteer teams requesting to help fight the monster." Jaune stated.

"Permission granted. Civilians are our number one priority. Don't fight the beast head on, but we will need to distract it." Ozpin said.

"Ozpin." Ironwood said. "We scanned the area for biometric signals, to help get the civilians to safety, but the scanner was disrupted by a signal coming from behind the Kraken. There's a vessel the exact size of a P-74 Menagerie-class submarine behind the Kraken letting out a violently loud sound. It's too high for humans, or even faunus, to hear, but the monster seems to be going to crazy because of it." He stated.

"They're controlling it?" Cardin asked.

"No. The Kraken is probably running away from the sound, but they 'herded' it here. Now it's attacking everything to try and get the sound to stop." Jaune stated.

"He's been distracted by the ships, so far, but they're all gone now. He's coming toward the city!" Weiss said.

"The military will be arriving within the hour. Right now, we only have one option." Jaune said.

"Agreed. We're boarding the airships right now. Hold on for another few minutes, Rose." Coco stated.

Weiss activated a glyph above the girl's heads, which prevented the monster from crushing them with his tentacle. "Ruby, we've got to move!" Weiss yelled.

"Okay! Be safe, guys." Ruby said as she put her scroll away before jumping to the docks with Weiss by her side.

"We can't attack this thing by ourselves." Weiss said.

"I know…" Ruby said as she thought of her next move. "Weiss, freeze the water. The civilians in the immediate area come first." She yelled.

Weiss activated a multitude of glyphs, in the shape of a circle, on the surface of the water around the beast. Myrtenaster began to glow blue as the water bean to freeze around the Kraken before encasing in entirely. Most of the people had already run away from the immediate area, but there were a few hiding for dear life within the surrounding buildings. Weiss activated one glyph after another, under those people, causing them to float into the air and away from the battle.

"Weiss! The ice is cracking!" Ruby yelled as she was pulling a few people from another building and telling them to run. The beacon airship finally arrived which held teams JNPR, CFVY, and CRDL. They landed next to Ruby and Weiss right as a massive portion of the ice seemed to be blasted through the air.

"How'd he bust through the ice so fast?" Coco asked.

"He didn't. That was a sonic wave. Whoever is behind the Kraken wants it to do as much damage as possible." Velvet said.

"What is our plan of attack?" Pyrrha asked.

"Cut its tentacles off, at least." Jaune said.

"I don't have a knife that big." Coco joked.

"Any other ideas?" Cardin asked.

"Yes." Ren said causing everyone to look at him. "Jaune, contact Ozpin and tell him to get every person out of the ocean. Ships, swimmers, surfers, everyone. Nora, you're going to electrocute it." He said in a calm tone.

"Good idea! Nice one, Ren." Jaune said as he pulled his scroll out.

"Yes?" Ozpin asked.

"Ozpin, sound an emergency evacuation for ocean goers. We're going to try and electrocute it. Get everyone off their ships and out of the water." Jaune explained.

"I'll have it done. I will contact you when it is safe to continue." He said before cutting off the call.

"Until then…" Coco said.

"…we have to keep it busy." Ruby finished.

* * *

Sirens began to sound all throughout the base. Lionel hid in a bathroom when her heard footsteps violently running through the halls, the sound of weapons being loaded and cursing filled his ears. A voice came over the intercom, "Three White Fang found dead, in the forest, between perimeters F-04 and F-06. Another found dead at the perimeter F-06 entrance. We have an intruder; shoot on sight." The voice rang out.

" _They must be talking about that other guy I saw earlier. I hate amateurs._ " Lionel thought as he waited for to sound of footsteps to come to an end. Lionel made sure his leather gloves were securely tightened on his hand before proceeding; he looked at his knuckles, rubbing the small gem slightly below them. He stuck is head outside of the door, to make sure the coast was clear, and darted out, using the walls as cover.

As he made his way down the hall, he began noticing a trend of soldiers making rounds throughout the entire base. " _They seem to be following standard lockdown protocol. Soldiers at every corner and exit; soldiers making consistent rounds…and…they're probably watching the cargo bay like a hawk. I'd better Ozpin know what's happening._ " He thought as he pulled out his scroll only to see no service. " _…and they blocked all external signals. I am receiving the tracker signals, and they seem to be at the top of the elevator shaft. That makes sense, use it as another barrier since the controls to activate it are down here._ " He thought before putting his scroll away and continuing through the halls.

Lionel came to a closed door with a sign above it that said 'East Wing' with an arrow pointed forward, indicating that if you stay straight you will end up there. The bottom half of the sign said 'Central Intelligence' With an arrow pointed to the right. " _That makes sense. I went down twenty-two flights of stairs in a cylindrical structure, so the first half of the structure is east and the other is west, then they both converge on one area to lead to one last area; the deepest underground and most defended area._ " He thought as he looked at the gem on his glove again and activated it. The gem began to glow a slight white color before it flooded with purple.

He walked out in their line of vision, but as soon as they reacted to his presence, he had his palm pointed toward them. "Gotta love that mental dust." Lionel said as the purple gem continued to glow. The two White Fang soldiers positioned in at this area were wobbling as though they were drunk. "Why don't you two take a nap." He said as he clenched a fist, causing the purple to glow even brighter. The two soldier's backs hit the wall before sliding down in unconsciousness.

Lionel walked up to the door and opened it. " _It said to go right for the central intelligence._ " He thought as he opened the door. He was met with a small room with a door directly across from him that said 'East Wing' above it and a door to his right that said 'Central Intelligence' above it, as well. He walked into the middle of the room and faced the 'Central Intelligence' door. " _I doubt Yang is in here, but I'm sure I can use their camera to find out where she is._ " He thought before the door to his left, the 'East Wing' door, flew open.

Lionel didn't hesitate, but rather had his arm held out, ready for an attack, before the other person's blade even reached his throat. He didn't attack, however...neither of them did. Lionel had his left hand pointed directly at this person's face, and would have won in the case of a quick draw event; the gem was glowing a bright red and this person could feel the heat emanating from the glove. A short time after Lionel had his attack prepared, the sharp edge of a blade was resting on his throat. It was a strange looking sword, with crevices every so often on the blade. There were two barrels situated at the end of the hilt with a clockwork-like mechanism sitting right where the blade and hilt met. "Fancy meeting you here." The swordsman said.

"I should have known it was you…you were never very good at stealth." Lionel said as he lowered his hand to his side.

"You mean I take action instead of hiding." The swordsman said as he, too, lowered his blade to his side.

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that. Anyway, why are you here?" Lionel asked.

"The same reason you are." The swordsman said.

"The White Fang have become a menace and no one is doing anything to stop them?" Lionel asked half seriously and half joking. The swordsman raised an eyebrow and cocked a small grin. "…and…" Lionel started.

"…to save my niece." The swordsman said with a calm tone.

"Then get ready, Qrow…we're about to start a war." Lionel said as they both looked at the door in front of them.


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

* * *

The door to the Central Intelligence room flew off their hinges due to the force of the explosion. Every White Fang soldier in the room didn't even hesitate to begin firing into the cloud of smoke. Both Lionel and Qrow began walking out of the smoke cloud as the soldier tried to shoot them, but, tray as they might, their rifles had not affect. Lionel had his hand raised, creating a barely visible haze of intense heat immediately in front of himself and Qrow.

The heat as so great that the energy, fired from their rifles, immediately underwent fission upon contact. The fission turned the high-velocity energy into a pathetic dispersal of energy sparks which would only slightly sting on contact with the skin. "It kinda' tickles…" Lionel said.

"Reminds me of frying up some bacon and the grease splashing on me!" Qrow joked.

It didn't take long for the White Fang to realize that their weapons were useless as they pulled out their sidearm and began firing .45 caliber rounds at them. The bullets had obviously been treated with different forms of dust due to the different effects the heat shield had on them. Lionel raised his second hand, the gem glowed white, and with a slight motion, he sent the energy shield firing outward as it expanded, hitting everyone in the room as well as most of the electronics. Those that were fortunate enough to remember their armor and helmets were simply knocked out, but the officers, who rarely wore armor, were burned beyond saving.

With the firing of rifles ending, a loud banging could finally be heard from the small room that connected both of the wings with the central intelligence room. Lionel and Qrow looked back to see their handiwork. The doors hand been melted and were nothing more than a part of the wall at this point. "We should hurry…at some point, they're going to realize that knocking won't work and they'll grab some explosives." Qrow said.

"Agreed." Lionel said as he found the main control terminal which he had strategically left unharmed. He began to hack into the system with ease. "This will probably take a bit, find something to occupy yourself." He finished.

"I already did…look!" Qrow said with annoyance.

Lionel looked to his right to be met with a visually unstable video of the Vale's shipping docks in a harsh condition. "What the hell happened?" Lionel asked.

"I don't know. These bastards were communicating with a submarine in the area." Qrow stated.

"An invasion?" Lionel asked as he went back to typing.

"No. It's a single submarine." Qrow informed. "And why the hell is this camera moving so much?" Qrow asked before a massive tentacle flew out from behind the camera to attack another building.

"What was that?" Lionel asked as he walked closer to the monitor since his hacking was completed and he had only to wait for the files to load. "A tentacle?" he asked again.

"Then that's a big-ass squid." Qrow said sarcastically before a tentacle came swinging down from above the camera, cutting off the feed. "Hove you found anything to tell us where Yang is?" he asked.

"Yes, let me load the camera footage." Lionel said as he ran back to the main terminal and opened the video files. They both fast forwarded the videos, which were being displayed on many different screens, for any sign of a commotion. "She isn't in any of these." Lionel said after a short while.

"But she is here?" Qrow asked.

"Yes. The tracker I put on her bike is in the same place. It should be at the gated entrance to this forest about a kilometer to the west. It wouldn't make any sense to walk back, so she must still be in the forest." Lionel explained with worry in his voice.

"She's too strong for these damn forest animals to kill her…" Qrow said confidently.

"I know that, but she was in critical condition when she left. Honestly, she wouldn't have been able to move if it weren't for her semblance." Lionel stated. "But, I agree. Still, she has to have gone somewhere." He finished.

"Are there any cameras from the gate?" Qrow asked.

"Not from here. The gate was erected by the kingdom, not the White Fang." Lionel answered.

"So the only possibility is that she is still in the forest or she got killed?" Qrow said with frustration. After a few seconds, Qrow's attitude seemed to completely change to one of hope. "I know. Find out where her kidnapped friend is. That's where we'll find Yang." He said.

Lionel nodded and began to search through the White Fang orders. "There's a ton of files I want to read when I get back home…" he muttered as he passed by most of the file names. He came across a report of the events of the Beacon attack. "Here…" he said as he opened the file and began skimming through the report.

"Right there. It says she was given to a 'Lieutenant Synther' at…Solomon Shipping Docks? Are they in league with the White Fang?" Qrow wondered.

"I've heard that name…Blake told me that she would be a valuable person to get information on AND she is the one that hid the presence of the White Fang during their attacks on Beacon, Atlas, and all of the other places. As for the docks…well, it makes sense." Lionel said.

"How so?" Qrow asked.

"Solomon Shipping Docks is one of, if not the biggest competitor of shipping with the Schnee's Company. They manage to have just as many ships and customers as the Schnee's but with a mere fraction of the spending. If we assume they are in league with the White Fang, then we can see where they're getting most of their funding and…" Lionel explained.

"…and if the White Fang wins, then the Schnee's will be out of business, leaving Solomon Shipping without any real competitors. Yeah, I see what you mean; they have everything to gain from this relationship." Qrow stated before hearing an explosion come from the entrance of the room. Both of the men looked back to see White Fang coming through the doors. Neither man hesitated as Qrow pulled out a remote and flicked a switch, causing a massive explosion from inside the small room that connected the wings of the building with the central intelligence room. "That'll hold 'em off for another minute or so…" Qrow stated as the rubble finished falling from the ceiling of that room, creating an impenetrable wall of debris.

Lionel began to search for the White Fang's information on Solomon Shipping, which didn't take very long. "Damn!" He said with annoyance.

Qrow began to read what Lionel had pulled up. "It's just a front for a naval base…" he stated.

"Probably one of their largest ones." Lionel said as he looked through the cargo and passenger lists until he found where Blake was. "Here! She was taken on a…" Lionel trailed off.

"What? …a submarine. Fuck!" Qrow shouted after glancing at the file.

"It's called the UFS Atonement…a…P-74 Menagerie-class submarine." Lionel sighed. "What's the designation and classification of the vessel over there on the communication channel." He asked, already knowing the answer.

Qrow looked and was just as unsurprised. "Designation: UFS Atonement. Classification: P-74 Menagerie-class." He stated.

"They're using her as a shield. If we just blow the damn sub up, then the world thinks that the kingdom really doesn't care about faunus…even the ones on our side. If we don't blow it up, then the people think that the kingdom doesn't care about its' own citizens." Lionel stated.

"They have us in a corner." Qrow said. "But…" he started.

"…if Yang is on board, and we send a small team to infiltrate, then we could stand a chance." Lionel finished with a sigh. A thought suddenly popped into his head, " _There's no sign that Yang made it anywhere near this far into the base. SO how did she find out to go to the docks…assuming that's the case?_ " he wondered. Lionel backed out of the files and searched for recent injuries in their medical records.

"What're you doing?" Qrow asked.

"If Yang didn't make it this far to find out where Blake went, then she had to have beaten the information out of someone." Lionel explained as he found a particularly strange record. "Here. Found in the boiler room with serious burns…perfect cover; still unconscious...and he had just finished his shift as the quartermaster." He stated.

"Where was he at during his shift?" Qrow asked.

"The cargo bay, though when I made it down here, I noticed it is standard protocol for them to take small teams up the elevator to personally oversee the cargo…delivery." Lionel said as he trailed off toward the end of his sentence. He began to search the flight path of the recent cargo shipments. "Look, this is the shipment that was delivered when I was coming down the elevator. After unloading its' cargo onto that elevator, it flew to one of the other elevators to receive munitions." Lionel explained.

"Let me guess: it's taking the munitions to a certain submarine?" Qrow stated.

"Not just a submarine. It looks like most of their bases are contributing to the supply line. They're taking more supplies to an entire fleet at Solomon Shipping Docks. Whatever is happening with this one submarine is just a distraction…they're going to flank us." Lionel stated clearly.

"There are no reports of anyone being caught at Solomon shipping, so we can assume that Yang made it onboard unnoticed." Qrow said.

"We need to contact Ozpin." Lionel stated as he began looking for a communication area. He looked at the monitor, showing a disconnected communication channel with the submarine, and saw a port that would be compatible with his scroll. He pulled his scroll out and plugged it in and waited for it to give him a secure connection. When his scroll buzzed he immediately joined a chat that Ozpin was having with the rest of the task force.

"What's happening Ozpin?" Lionel asked as he walked back to the main terminal to look through the loaded files.

"Lionel, a Kraken is attacking the city." Ruby yelled through many grunts and heavy heaving.

"Who's fighting it? You?" he asked.

"Yeah. And Weiss and Teams CFVY, CRDL, and JNPR. Everyone else is on search and rescue for civilians." Ruby said.

"Ozpin, do you already know about the submarine?" Qrow asked.

"Yes, we believe it is manipulating the Kraken into attacking." Ozpin stated.

"Uncle Qrow? What are you doing there?" Ruby asked.

"Crazy turn of events. I'll explain later, pipsqueak." Qrow replied mockingly.

"The submarine had a communication channel opened up with the base that we're at. We cut it off when we took control of the intelligence room, but we cannot attack it!" Lionel said.

"Why?" Ironwood asked.

"Because both Yang and Blake are onboard." Lionel said.

Ironwood relaxed slightly and began in a less aggressive tone, "Listen. I know they're young, but do you honestly expect me to just forget about the safety of–"

"AND." Qrow interrupted. "We have evidence that they are sending an entire fleet to attack as well; it makes sense now. A Kraken has never attacked a city before, so causing one to do so would throw all of our plans out the window since we've never needed to worry about this. Our military will be in disarray and not be ready for an all-out attack." Qrow stated.

"I'm sending all of the files I have from their intelligence room." Lionel said as he began uploading the files to Ozpin's network. "Listen, a Kraken is large and strong, but otherwise no different from a huge Grimm. Don't send the entire military to attack it, just alter our Goliath-killing tactics. Station the military in key locations and ready the navy and air force for an attack. We only need three teams to kill the Kraken, so JNPR, CFVY, and CRDL, you're it. Weiss and Ruby, I need you two for an infiltration mission." Lionel said quickly.

"Where?" Weiss asked.

"The submarine. You're going to get Yang and Blake out so we can destroy the vessel." Lionel said.

"I've forwarded the information to everyone else and the military has been notified." Ozpin said.

"I'll have my soldiers make adjustments for this attack as well." Ironwood stated.

"You know we haven't actually killed any Goliaths before…right?" Coco asked sarcastically.

"Yep. Good thing we're not attacking any Goliaths right now, huh?" Lionel retorted with just as much sarcasm. "I know this isn't ideal, but it's the hand we've been dealt and this plan is the best poker face we have. They're putting a lot into this assault, so if we can come out on top, then a counterattack will hurt them even more." He said confidently, filling everyone with motivation.

"What about you two?" Ruby asked.

"We'll be back as soon as possible, pipsqueak. For now, we're going to gather any information we can and raise hell." Qrow stated.

"Indeed. Be careful, and watch each other's backs. Ruby and Weiss, I'm going to open a private channel for us to talk on." Lionel said.

"Okay, we'll be waiting." Weiss said before seeing Lionel disappear from the chat.

"Okay, guys; be safe! I want to hear all about your awesome battle when we get back!" Ruby said.

"Easier said than done, Ruby." Jaune stated with a nervous grin.

"If Rose thinks we can do this, then I don't have anything to worry about." Coco said.

Ruby and Weiss' scroll began to vibrate. They both placed their earpieces in and answered the call. "Sir. We're ready whenever you are." Weiss stated.

"Okay, I asked Ozpin to send you some diving gear to you; it will probably be there in two minutes. The submarine is in relatively shallow water, only about three hundred feet below sea level, so we need it to surface from the water. You will both gear up and covertly dive to said depth. When you have the vessel in your sights, you need swim to the engine, the propellers, and attack them." Lionel explained.

"Is the submarine stationary?" Weiss asked.

"No, it's moving at a slow pace of about two knots. You shouldn't have to worry about the current created by the propellers, just don't get too close." Lionel said.

"After we attack the engine, it will surface, and we will board from the top of the sub?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. Make sure you're on your toes because they will know something is up. And Ruby, make sure you're careful in there. You won't be able to expand Crescent Rose to its full size due to the compact space in the sub, so you'll only have the rifle form to use." Lionel stated clearly.

"Did Yang get captured also? Why is she on the ship?" Weiss asked.

"No, we don't think she got caught. We think she snuck on board to help Blake, so when things go down, she'll probably take advantage of the situation." Qrow said.

A Beacon armored m car came to a sudden stop close to where Weiss and Ruby were waiting at. No one stepped out, but the door opened and the diving gear was placed outside by a Vale soldier. "Good luck, ladies." He said before closing the door and driving away.

"We just got the diving gear. We're going to get ready and head out to the ship." Ruby said as they both began to strip their clothes from their body with the exception of their undergarments.

"Good thing nobody is around to see this." Weiss said with annoyance. They both slipped the wetsuits on with ease before removing their undergarments when the wetsuit comfortably covered their bodies. They zipped up the skin-tight suit and began to check their oxygen tanks for any leaks.

"Everything looks good over here. No leaks in the tank or tube, the mask fits, and the fins are on." Ruby said.

"Same here…I'm ready to go." Weiss said as they made their way back to the docks, but still remaining out of the sight of the battle.

"We're heading to the docks now." Ruby said.

"No. There will be a manhole cover before actually getting to the docks, take that instead. It should lead out to the ocean." Lionel said quickly.

Weiss and Ruby made it to the last building before the docks opened up. "I can see why; we would have to cover to get to the ocean; they would see us coming a mile away." Weiss said before locating the manhole cover to her right and attempting to lift it. "That's not happening." Weiss said after a quick struggle to lift the metal plate. She lifted Myrtenaster from her holster on her side and activated the white dust. The manhole cover was quickly removed from the opening and placed to the side.

"C'mon." Ruby said as she slid down the ladder leading to the sewer system.

"Over there." Weiss said after she landed behind Ruby. Ruby looked in the same direction and saw that the sewage pipe takes a vertical turn down. "We dive right here." She said as they walked up to the water.

"And Weiss, don't use your dust until you're ready to attack the engines. Their scanners will sense the dust and you'll lose the element of surprise." Lionel stated.

"Understood." Weiss said as they both placed the masks over their face, which looks oddly like a paintball mask, except that they're sealed to prevent any water from entering and any oxygen from leaving. "Good?" Weiss asked over the scroll.

"Good. Oxygen flow is stable. Buoyancy compensator is working. I'm ready to go." Ruby said with a thumbs up.

"Let's go." Weiss stated as she jumped into the water with Ruby following close behind. They both adjusted their buoyancy to float down the vertical pipe until it opened up to the ocean. They continued to float down until they reached the ocean floor, at which point Weiss looked at pressed a button on her mask which pulled up a Heads-Up-Display. "two-hundred-twenty feet." Weiss said.

"We need to go further out until it allows us to go down some more." Ruby replied.

They both stabilized their buoyancy before kicking from the ocean floor and swimming forward. It was a slight downward slope so they were diving quite slowly. "Report ladies?" Lionel asked.

"We're at a depth of two-hundred-thirty-eight feet. The slope is so shallow, that we're having trouble gaining more depth." Ruby said.

"It's showing that the vessel is about eight hundred feet north of you. And the vessel itself is around six hundred feet long, so you'll probably come to a steep reef soon." Lionel explained.

"Heard. I see it now." Weiss said as they began to slow themselves down before coming to the reef.

"Woah." Ruby said as she looked down the reef into total darkness.

"Remember to control your buoyancy here, we only need to go down another sixty feet. Actually, we should see the vessel as soon as we get down that far." Weiss said.

"Okay. I'm ready." Ruby said as she watched Weiss take the first step off of the cliff. Ruby followed close behind, adjusting her buoyancy accordingly. They both continued to move north as they lowered farther into the water and, sure enough, the vessel came into view quickly. It looked as though it wasn't moving, but they could both see the propeller spinning.

"At least we were lucky enough to be on the side of the propellers." Ruby said with a chuckle.

"It'll probably be our only piece of good luck today. Get ready." Weiss said as she stopped her descent with her buoyancy compensator, and Ruby doing the same. Weiss held out Myrtenaster with the tip pointed at the engine. The revolving dust chamber made a full revolution before stopping and causing the blade to glow a combination of white and red.

The propellers of the ship began to gain a violent speed as their spin built up power. "Ha. Too late now." Weiss said as glyphs began to appear on the engines where the propeller connected to the ship. An aggressive sonic wave was sent pulsing from the ship in defense, but Ruby activated her semblance, to an extreme extent, and sliced through the water with amazing speed. She sent a powerful wave of water flying right toward the expanding sphere of water caused by the sonic wave. Ruby managed to cancel out a portion of the sonic pressure wave coming toward them and was able to protect her and her teammate.

"Thank you, Ruby." She said as the wave impacted the reef behind them causing the rocks and coral to break away as though it were Styrofoam. Weiss activated her semblance and watched as the glyphs exploded in a ball of flame, seemingly ignoring the water. The left propeller was blown completely off and sank to the dark depths of the ocean and the second was bent beyond use.

"They're taking on water." Weiss said as she pointed at the hole in the vessel.

"We need to surface too so we can be ready." Ruby said as she adjusted her buoyancy to float back to the surface with Weiss following behind. Hatches on the sides of the ship began to open and Weiss knew that they were adjusting their buoyancy as well.

"Get ready, Ruby. They're going to come up to and the water displacement is going to throw us around." Weiss warned. In a matter of seconds, the vessel was already passing the two girls in its ascent to the surface. They waited patiently to be carried along with the vessel and, as they prepared, they could see the violent current of water coming toward them.

When the water caught them, they were gone from each other's sight within seconds. "Ruby!" Weiss yelled as she pressed the emergency protocol on their buoyancy compensator, which increases it to its' max, as to better get her to the surface. Weiss was being flung by the water and had no control over her body as she desperately watched the counter in her mask get closer to sea level.

After an agonizing two or three minutes, Weiss emerged from the sea next to the vessel and immediately began to swim to it. She climbed onto the metal and ran to the hatch, that she could see unlocking, on the top. Three White Fang soldiers stepped out of the vessel as Weiss was pulling Myrtenaster out of her holster. Before she could begin her attack, three bullets fired consecutively, killing each of the soldiers with a headshot.

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she came over the top of the vessel and waited for Weiss to make her way to the top. Ruby gave Weiss a hug when she made her way to the top. "I'm glad you're okay." She said happily.

"I'm glad to see you as well. But let's not celebrate yet." Weiss said as she looked at the hatch opening while removing her mask.

"Are you ready?" Ruby asked as she placed her mask on a latch on her buoyancy compensator.

"Yes. Let's get Yang and Blake back." Weiss said confidently. "Lionel, we're entering the vessel." She said over the scroll.

"Understood. Get them and get out. We'll have a dinghy waiting for you four when you make it back to the top. It will have a flare on board; when you're clear of the vessel, fire the flare and it the navy will blow it sky high. Understood?" Lionel asked.

"Yes, sir." Ruby and Weiss said in unison.


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

* * *

Weiss lifted Myrtenaster and pointed the blade toward the open hatch. Her blade began to glow with a calm blue color before a glyph formed immediately over the opening. Within just a moment, a deadly ice mist began flying into the opening followed by a momentary sound of screams. Ruby looked down the hatch, after the glyph disappeared, to see a glimpse of the White Fang who had been frozen in place, two of which were attempting to climb up the hatch.

"I got this." Ruby said as she opened Crescent Rose into its' basic rifle form and aimed down the opening. She fired a single shot causing the frozen soldiers to shatter. Ruby nodded her head and jumped down the hole into the vessel, followed by her teammate.

"I doubt a normal vessel like this would have a dedicated area for holding prisoners. Blake will probably be locked in the sleeping quarters." Weiss said as they began running across the catwalk toward the closest door.

"Is it this way?" Ruby asked.

"No, but they locked the doors shut. So we're going to have to jump down in order to get anywhere." Weiss said as she looked over the rail to see a maze of pipes and vents mixed with various walkways below them. "It looks like there are three floors on this vessel." She added.

"Can't you just blow the door?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. It will take too long, however. Those doors are meant to hold back water in the event of a leak; we don't have the time for me to burn through the door." Weiss explained before jumping over the rail. She placed one foot on a pipe, on the side of the vessel, and used her right hand to hold onto the walkway that she was previously standing on. She then made her way down the wall pipes and vents lining the inside of the vessel with Ruby following close behind.

"Over there!" A White Fang member yelled as he, and four others, began to fire their weapons.

Weiss activated a glyph in front of Ruby which blocked a barrage of shots that were fired at her. The glyph then fired a series of ice shards at the soldiers, impaling them to the walls and killing most instantly. Ruby aimed Crescent Rose at the other side of the walkway at more of the White Fang running through the door. and fired, blowing their heads clean off. "Thanks, Weiss." Ruby said.

"We're friends, don't worry about it." Weiss said as she created a frozen wall covering the door that the White Fang just ran through. "We're on the second level so this way should take us to the dorms and mess hall." She finished.

Ruby and Weiss ran to hide at the sides of the door before they could be shot by the soldier waiting on the other side. "Our auras won't protect us from their energy weapons." Ruby said as she reloaded her rifle.

"Are you ready then?" Weiss asked with a smirk.

"Yeah!" Ruby said as she cocked her rifle and opened it to its full form. She embedded the blade into the walkway as she aimed down the sights. The soldiers were already firing at her, but Weiss was blocking every shot with a glyph she had placed in front of Ruby. Weiss activated another glyph in front of the end of Ruby's rifle which was glowing with a bright white outer rim and the inner design was a vibrant red. Ruby fired her first shot at the lieutenant, who was standing about half way to the next door.

The shot hit him in in the center of the chest which knocked him back to the group of fortified White Fang behind him. They paid no attention as his chest expanded by about three inches before exploding in a fiery explosion, killing all of the fortified White Fang. Ruby looked to the walls of the vessel and saw pipes that were leaking all forms of liquid as well as air vents which were no longer functioning from the explosion, but there were no leaks in the vessel itself.

"Nice throttle!" Ruby yelled as she picked up Crescent Rose and folded it back into its rifle form. The only noticeable difference was the subtle climbing temperature of the vessel interior since the air vents had been damaged and there was no longer any circulation. The carbon dioxide that they were breathing out was not being converted back into breathable oxygen, so it remained in the vessel, slowly collecting heat since it does not conduct heat as well as oxygen.

"Did you have any doubt? Now we have to hurry…we only have about another 20 minutes of air in our oxygen tanks and the vessel will probably be out of oxygen in a matter of minutes. If you feel light-headed, put your mask back on." Weiss said as they both continued on their journey to the rear of the ship. They both reached the door to the that lead to the mess hall and the rest of the vessel only to hear heard a loud banging on the inside of the room. "It sounds like people are banging their heads on the wall in there." She said.

"Oh. I bet its Yang! She's kicking some butt!" Ruby yelled as she ran up to the door.

Weiss hurled a strange low hissing noise from the other side of the door. "Ruby, wait!" Weiss yelled too late as Ruby turned the bolt on the door. It flung open as a violent surge of water came rushing through the door. Before she was unable, Weiss sent a glyph into the mess hall. The water sent Ruby flying back into the wall behind Weiss, smashing her against the vessel. Weiss was holding Myrtenaster in front of her, creating a force field to hold back the water.

She held out her hand, with her palm facing the glyph in the mess hall, and activated the glyph in the mess hall. All of the water in the mess hall froze, and the water outside of the room became a slurry of ice and water as it settled at about waist height due to the lack of force from the mess hall. "Ruby!" Weiss yelled as she trudged her way through the slurry of ice water to her teammate who was floating face down in the water.

Weiss quickly turned Ruby's head toward the air and created a glyph under their bodies in order to float them up above the water and to give Ruby's body a way to lay flat. Weiss quickly gave Ruby two deep breaths before beginning compressions. To Weiss' relief, Ruby had not breathed in much water and quickly coughed up most of the liquid in her lungs.

"What…happened?" Ruby asked in between coughs while sitting up to see the bodies floating in the water.

"There's a leak in the vessel coming from the mess hall." Weiss stated as she tried to look through the ice which she had formed around the door to the mess hall. "I think the door on the other side of the mess hall is closed as well. The leak has to be from that room." She finished.

"How did that happen?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know. But, we have to hurry and get passed the room before the ice melts. It's getting hotter from our previous attack and we don't have a lot of oxygen." Weiss stated.

"Then let's go." Ruby said as she stood on the glyph and took out her rifle, aiming it toward the ground beneath the water. "You said we're on the second level, right?" she asked.

"Yes? What are you–" Weiss was cut off by the sound of an explosive round being fired from Crescent Rose. It hit the metal floor they were standing on before exploding to create a large, jagged hole in the floor. The calm ice water quickly began to escape through the hole in the floor. Weiss lowered the glyph to the floor before she deactivated it all together. "Fell free to say something next time." Weiss said with a mocking annoyed attitude.

"You said we have to hurry!" Ruby stated with a sarcastic innocence.

Weiss quickly jumped through the hole in the floor with Ruby following behind her. They landed on the bottom level with the water spread out so much it was not even a centimeter high. "The vessel loops around once we get to the engine room. We'll have to go through there to get to the other side of the mess hall, head back up, and get to the dorms." Weiss said.

"What do you think caused that hole?" Ruby asked as they quickly made their way through the strangely empty halls.

"Since we're so close to the engine room, it could have been the explosion from when I attacked from the outside. Or perhaps the navy saw them rise from the water and decided to take a pot shot. There's a bunch of possibilities." Weiss said with labored breathing.

"Why is it so hard to breathe down here?" Ruby said as she realized that the very minimal effort they were putting into their jog was taking more effort than it should.

Weiss stopped and pulled out a pulse oximeter which had been latched to the inner side of the oxygen mask. She placed it on her finger and waited for a few moments for a vibration. "87%." she said as she took a few deep breaths.

"Is that bad?" Ruby asked as she took a few deep breaths.

"Yes. Put your mask on, now." Weiss said as she pulled hers off of the side and placed it on her face. She took a few deep breaths and watched the number rise on her finger. "99% now…that's better." She said as she took it off and placed it on Ruby's finger for a few seconds after she put her mask on. "100%" she finished.

"We're good?" Ruby asked as Weiss placed the pulse oximeter back onto the latch in her mask.

"Yes. At least for another twenty minutes...then we'll be out of air." Weiss said as she began to jog down the walkway once again.

"I thought the vessel had more air in it than that?" Ruby said.

"It does, but we went down a level and the ship had a leak in it which has caused the rear end to sink slightly. Carbon dioxide is heavier than oxygen so the slope of the slightly sunken vessel and the fact that we've gone down a level means that most of the carbon dioxide has pooled in the rear of the ship." Weiss explained as they both reached the engine room where the door was bolted shut.

"Is that the reason for this also?" Ruby asked after Weiss burned through the door with one of her flame glyphs.

"Probably, though I don't know who bolted the door closed." Weiss said as she saw many dead White Fang members in the engine room. Their faces were blue from suffocation and some looked as though they had committed suicide.

"I'd hate to say it, but we need to keep moving. I've only got twenty-four minutes of oxygen left." Ruby said.

"Yeah." Weiss said with a sigh. "Let's go." She finished as she summoned another glyph to burn through the door on the other side of the room.

"It looks like we did bust a hole in the ship when you attack the engine." Ruby said as she looked at where the functioning propellers used to be. "I don't know what that stuff is blocking the hole, though." She stated.

"It's a special type of cement. It is treated with gravity dust so that it doesn't move out of place." Weiss said as the door fell to the ground. "But, I'm not sure how they managed to get their hands on some since it is still a secret project between my father and the Atlas military." She said as they both began to run toward the front of the vessel now that they have looped around through the engine room.

"I see the dorm rooms!" Ruby said as she used her semblance to seemingly open all of the doors at once. Both of the girls noticed one room in particular that looked as though it had housed a wildfire.

"I wonder who did this…" Weiss said in a sarcastic tone as she saw the chains, attached to the bed, which had been melted.

"Where do you think they went?" Ruby asked.

"With the lack of information, they have, probably the front of the ship to take over the vessel. They probably don't even know that they are in Vale." Weiss explained.

"We have to hurry! Neither of them is in any shape to be fighting in the first place." Ruby said as she pulled her rifle out and ran to the door. Weiss concentrated for nearly a whole minute before summoning yet another flame glyph to burn through the door.

"Okay, we're going to move as fast as we can. Are you ready?" Weiss asked.

"How long will it take to get through the doors?" Ruby asked.

"I put a lot of energy into this one. We should be able to keep moving without slowing down…I hope." Weiss said as her labored breathing did not slow down.

Ruby nodded her head and get behind Weiss, placed her right hand on the heiress' right shoulder. She pulled her weapon under Weiss' left arm and aimed forward, ready to kill anything that got in their way. Myrtenaster was still holstered, and Weiss held out both of her arms with her hands placed behind one another focusing on the glyph. "You ready?" Ruby asked.

"Yes…" Weiss stated in between breaths. Ruby activated her semblance, both in herself and in Weiss' body, to increasing blood flow and adrenaline, among other things, to allow them to run at greater speeds. Since they are both so tired, and due to Weiss' lack of experience with Ruby's semblance, they were unable to increase their speed more than about fifty or sixty percent of their maximum.

As planned, the glyph burned through the door almost instantly allowing them to run across the walkways indefinitely. The first walkway had no resistance, but the second door they burned through gave way to White Fang soldiers who were all wearing oxygen masks. Immediately, they were firing at the two teammates, to which Ruby responded in kind. Those who did not meet their end through means of a high-velocity rifle met a much more grotesque end by means of having limbs burned away by Weiss' semblance.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked after they passed through the first group of White Fang and into the next door.

"Yeah, just keep going!" Weiss yelled as they made it through the next door. Yet another group of White Fang soldiers were waiting, however, they were unsurprised when they began firing upon the girls. Again, Ruby began firing her weapon, killing as many as she could as they passed them by.

"How much farther? I don't know how long your body can handle this!" Ruby stated with worry.

"Don't worry about it. If we slow down, then the ones behind us, who are still alive, will be able to shoot us. We don't stop unless we find Yang or Blake." Weiss yelled before seeming to slam through the third door.

The third walkway went the same. And the forth. And the fifth. They continued to make their way up through the vessel until they came upon the sixth door. After burning through it, Weiss ran up to the White Fang as though she was going to go straight through them, literally. However, she stopped in her tracks, waved her right arm, which caused the glyph to fire off multiple projectiles at the White Fang, burning most of them alive. Ruby, who was confused, took no time eliminating the rest of the soldiers. As Ruby fired her rifle, Weiss turned around to see White Fang running up behind the girls from the walkways they passed by. She pulled Myrtenaster out, and embedded the blade into the floor causing the series of small icicles to form a path toward the door. Upon reaching the door, dozens of massive stalagmites rose from the floor, covering the entrance to the walkway.

"Weiss, what happened." Ruby asked after disposing of the final White Fang.

"Look at the fortifications set up." Weiss said while still facing away from her, toward the direction they came from. Ruby turned around to see the fortifications they were setting up. They were facing their cover in the direction that the girls were going and they had explosives ready.

"They were going to prevent anyone from leaving through the direction we came from?" Ruby wondered.

"Yeah. We passed the hatch to the outside a while ago. They don't want anyone from that side getting out. I think they're in there." Weiss said.

"C'mon, then! We have to go!" Ruby yelled.

"Go ahead, I'll stay here and make sure no one gets through." Weiss said as she pulled out her blade and readied herself for a fight.

"Okay. Yell out if too many come through." Ruby said to her teammate who was still facing the other way. Ruby walked up to the door, which the White Fang were in the process of bolting shut. She turned the mechanism on the door until she heard a latch open. The second the latch sounded, a loud rush of air could be heard throughout the ship with a faint buzzing noise.

Ruby quickly pushed the door open and rushed inside to see one of the half-burnt crew members, probably the captain, leaning on the console. She turned around with a bright purple color coming from her eyes, and yelled, "All hail the king!" Her eyes suddenly returned to a normal hazel color as she fell to the ground lifeless.

"Ruby?" a familiar voice said from behind the team leader.

"Blake?" Ruby yelled as she turned around to see her teammate mostly unharmed. She saw Yang in her arms; the blonde brawler had taken significantly more damage, but Blake began to yell. She seemed almost unconcerned with the girl in her arms...like she is merely a weight that she has to hold up.

"Ruby! Call Lionel and tell him to get everyone away from Beacon! Get everyone out of Vale!" Blake screamed.

"Why? Is it a Nuke? We have to get out of this ship, now!" Ruby said in return.

"It's not a nuke! Just tell him to get everyone away, now!" Blake yelled again.

Rub looked at her terrified teammate quizzically, "Blake, we have to go first or–"

"RUBY! CALL HIM NOW!" Blake yelled at the top of her lungs as tears began to roll down her cheeks. At this point, she seemed to remember that Yang was in her arms as she hugged her as though it brought her comfort.

"O-okay…" Ruby said as she dialed opened the chat, though with a worse-than-average connection.

"What's wrong, Ruby? Have you been able to find Blake and Yang? What did they just fire from the vessel?" Ozpin asked when he realized that Ruby had rejoined the chat.

"I found them, but Blake keeps saying that we need to evacuate Vale." Ruby said. "They launched…something…from the sub." She finished.

"Is it a nuke?" Lionel asked.

"No. Blake won't tell me what it is…she's terrified, though." Ruby said.

"We can't just evacuate on of the largest cities in the world without a good reason." Lionel stated.

"He's back…" Blake whispered. Ruby looked her way as she repeated the same words over and over, but never getting louder.

"What's wrong, Ruby?" Ozpin asked.

"Blake keeps saying 'He's back…' I don't know what it means, though." She said. "Blake, who is back?" the team leader asked.

"…our peace is fragile…our society is weak…we will fall." She said quietly as she held Yang in her arms.

Ruby suddenly remembered when she had fainted in Ozpin's office and she had dreamed some creature was talking to her. "He said the same thing to me…" Ruby whispered which caused Blake to dart her eyes up to her.

"Whatever they launched just landed in Forever Fall." Ozpin said.

Ruby ran over to the console where the White Fang Captain was standing and began to read the contents of what had just been launched. "Project: Deus Mortem." Ruby said.

"What? What is that?" Lionel asked.

"That's what they just launched from the ship." Ruby explained as best she could while still trying to make sense of what was happening.

Lionel quickly pulled up his scroll with the White Fang information on it to look up what the project was. He typed the words in, allowed it system to detect the file, and opened it as quick as he could. He only skimmed through the words before screaming in a berserk rage, his flame gauntlets lighting up and nearly melting all of the instruments and consoles within the central intelligence room.

"You okay?" Qrow asked after putting his hand down in a mocking attempt to protect his eyes from the light, though his aura prevented him from getting hurt.

"Ozpin, Ironwood. Evacuate the City." Lionel said as he sent the information to all of the known Knight-Hunters in Remnant. H then forwarded the information to each of the Kingdom's central governments.

Ironwood was completely confused. "Why did you send that information? Do you expect the Kingdoms to –"

"Under Article Four, Section One of the Knight-Remnant Act, I hereby conscript the Kingdoms of the world under the direct control of the Knights." Lionel stated with annoyed arrogance.

Ironwood was attempting to probe for more information, "Why? How? You can't –"

"I will explain when I get back. Right now, you have to evacuate Vale, immediately!" Lionel said as he pressed a few more buttons on his scroll which began to hack into the database of every known server in all of Remnant. TVs, computers, and government terminals began to glitch slightly before showing the symbol of the Knights. "I have taken control of all known databases in the world. I am officially invoking martial law." Lionel stated.

All mechanical law enforcement from the paladins to simple automated turrets began to activate and wander the streets of the four kingdoms. Their audio processors stated the same words over again, "Report to your home. Do not leave until given permission. Food, Water, and other necessities will be provided for you. Leaving the premises of your household will result in immediate persecution by the law."

"Very well. I will inform the military personnel of this new development." Ozpin said.

"What? Ozpin?" Ironwood asked in annoyance.

"I think it best to take him seriously. We may have out complaints with the Knight-General…but at the very least, he is always calm and cool headed. He would not do this without proper reasoning." Ozpin explained.

"Fine." Ironwood stated with clear anger. "Lionel, what is this?" he asked after sending the message to his troops.

"A Grimm War." Lionel stated.


	27. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

* * *

"BLAKE!" Ruby yelled as she placed one of the White Fang's oxygen masks over her face. Blake was breathing heavily, which in this scenario greatly aided in her mind's recovery. Ruby quickly placed another oxygen mask across Yang's face and made sure that she was breathing properly.

Blake looked up to Ruby and felt herself slowly coming back to reality. She looked at Ruby's face, the small leader's eyes were determined, she was holding Crescent Rose as though, in a second, she could ready it as a weapon to defend her and her team. "Yes. Thank you. Let's go…" Blake said as she stood up and picked Yang up and slung her over one of her shoulders. " _That's why she's the leader…she always holds it together no matter what._ " She thought as she followed behind Ruby.

"Ozpin, we're going to make our way out of the vessel. How's the situation outside?" Ruby asked as they made their way back to the door.

"We've only been able to hold the Kraken off and the military is engaged with the White Fang fleet a few miles south of Patch. Hurry so we can destroy that damn submarine and focus on the White Fang." Coco yelled through the intercom.

Ruby swung the door open to see her teammate outside, face-down on the ground. "Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she ran into the hall next to her teammate. She flipped Weiss onto her back and gasped at what she saw. Weiss' clothes had been stained a dark red from the blood. She had a few wounds on her front from running through all of the soldiers prior to reaching Blake and Yang.

"What happened?" Blake asked.

"She was in the lead when we made it up here…I thought the glyph was protecting her but she was hit a few times. Nothing fatal luckily…" Ruby droned off as she began checking Weiss' equipment. Ruby's eyes went wide as she noticed that Weiss' oxygen had run out nearly four minutes prior. She looked behind her, to the dead White Fang, looking for another oxygen mask but none were viable. They were all either burned or had been damaged by their attacks. She looked to the upper right corner of her mask and saw that she had about three minutes of oxygen remaining.

Ruby took a deep breath, pulled her mask off, and placed it on Weiss' face before lowering the oxygen saturation since Weiss was unconscious. The time jumped to close to a seven-minute limit. The leader released the latch on her weapon's ammo magazine, allowing it to fall to the ground. Her favorite twenty-shot extended magazine was the first choice that she had when reloading her weapon. She picked Weiss's body off the floor and held her in her arms with Crescent Rose still in her left arm, its rifle-form active and facing forward. She turned to Blake who was flabbergasted, "Ruby, you need to breathe, also." Blake stated.

Ruby shook her head in a 'no' motion, looked forward, and fired her weapon into the ice wall that Weiss had created. She began to run through the walkways, using her semblance only to aid in Weiss' recovery, so she was running at normal speed. It was slightly easier running back toward the middle of the submarine since the vessel's rear had sunk a considerable amount by this point. They were basically running downhill.

" _If we don't hurry, we'll be swimming through the hatch to get outside._ " Ruby thought as she noticed a few White Fang who were also running from a few rooms to get to the hatch. She fired her weapon conservatively, knowing that reloading would not be an option, both because of time restraints and carrying her teammate. A few shots rang out from behind Ruby, killing a few more of the White Fang. The rest of the soldiers only fired behind them blindly as they continued to run for the exit.

The closer they got to the exit, the more of the White Fang fell. None of them had an oxygen mask on, so these people were the expendable units of the White Fang. Their oxygen-deprived brains were making their shots comically inaccurate.

"I see the exit!" Blake yelled as a few of the White Fang fell to the ground from sheer oxygen-depravity. They walked up to the hatch as Ruby began to think as to how they would get Yang and Weiss up through the hatch. The small leader was in immense pain from not being able to breathe for over five minutes, but she would never tell or allow her team to see any sign of that.

Ruby knelt down to allow Weiss to sit on the ground for a moment as she folded Crescent Rose into its compact form. She then stood up while holding on to Weiss's back to make it look as though she was giving Weiss a hug. " _The hatch isn't wide enough for her to be on my shoulder…this will have to work._ " She thought as she pulled one arm away and grabbed onto the ladder. Ruby began to make her way up the ladder, focusing her semblance into her right arm on make sure that she didn't drop her teammate.

The moment Ruby made it into the sunlight, she sat Weiss onto the hull of the vessel and let out a deep breath. She was practically hyperventilating at this point but stood up to see what she could do for her teammates who were still in the vessel. A gunshot could be heard from inside the vessel followed by Gambol flying out of the ship and latching onto the opening of the hatch.

Ruby looked down the hatch to see Blake tying the thread around Yang's waist, presumably to compensate for not having Ruby's semblance, so there was no way Blake would be able to climb out of the vessel one-handedly. Ruby quickly caught on, grabbed the thread, and began pulling as hard as she could without her semblance.

Before long, Blake's hand made it to the opening and Ruby quickly grabbed onto Yang to pull her out. Blake was then able to pull herself out of the vessel on her own. Blake pulled her mask off before going over to Yang and taking hers as well. Ruby did the same for Weiss before looking around for the dinghy that was supposed to be left for them.

"The boat's over there." Ruby said as she pointed in its direction. She turned around to see just how much the vessel had sunk when she saw the water slowing creeping closer to the hatch of the ship; it was only about six feet away.

The slow sinking of the ship had pushed the dinghy a few feet away, but Ruby took no time jumping into the water and swimming to it. She pulled herself aboard, turned on the engine, and began to steer it closer to the vessel. Blake quickly picked up Weiss and handed her to Ruby, followed by Yang, before jumping on board herself. As Ruby made sure Yang and Weiss were in the boat, Blake went to the back to steer.

She turned on the engine and began to head away from the ship as fast as it could go. "Blake, fire the flare into the air." Ruby said as she laid down next to Weiss and began to fall unconscious.

"Ruby?!" Blake yelled. She quickly found the flare gun holstered on the side of the engine, pulled it out to aim into the air, and pulled the trigger. A loud hiss came out as a bright orange light flew into the air before seemingly stopping midair to create a bright light for a few seconds. Blake locked the engine in place to head for the shore before running to Ruby's side.

"Ruby! Ruby!" Blake said as she began to shake Ruby's body. Blood slowly began to drip from the young leader's nose, ears, and eyes. Blake checked Ruby's pulse and found that it was elevated, but her breathing seemed normal. This calmed her down slightly, knowing that she probably fainted from exhaustion. " _Just stay calm, Blake…this has happened before; she just overexerted herself._ " Blake thought as her improved hearing began to pick up the sound of a slight hiss.

Blake turned her head in the direction of the sound to see two fighter jets flying in formation making their way to toward them. They were getting closer at incredible speed with an unfamiliar gun protruding the belly of the jet. It was a massive weapon and Blake wondered if it was a sort of rail gun but removed the thought from her mind when she remembered how powerful it was. " _…that would need to be bolted to the ground for it to fire; there's no way that tiny jet could handle the recoil of such a weapon._ " She thought.

A light blue light began to shine from the barrel of the unknown weapon. As soon as the jets were just over the top of the boat, a powerful beam of pure energy fired from the weapons. The beam made contact with the submarine as which caused the hull of the vessel to immediately explode in an almost beautiful fiery and lighting explosion. The jets quickly made a tilted to the side and began making their way back to the shore.

The boat had finally made it passed the docks, which were destroyed, and was heading for the shore in a straight line. She was finally able to see what was happening as the Kraken had come into view. It seemed to look calm but was startled at where it was nevertheless. Teams CFVY, CRDL, and JNPR were standing across many roofs, but they were not fighting. They looked exhausted and beaten, so destroying the submarine looks to have ended the fight, but they were ready for it to continue again.

"This is Dust-2; the Kraken has stopped attacking but is still within the vicinity. Over." One of the fighter pilots stated over the scroll.

"It was led here by trying to run away from the sound that was causing it pain. Make a second run and fire upon the beast with our Hunters to get it to leave." Lionel said.

"You sure that won't piss it off more?" Coco asked.

"That's what I'm hoping will happen. From what I've seen, it likes to just be left alone…if we attack it, get it to leave, and then don't follow it, it will probably stay gone." Lionel stated.

"Probably?" Jaune asked.

"Probably. Most likely." Lionel said with the same monotonous tone he has had since the submarine had launched something at Beacon.

"Quantum Cannon batteries are dead. Over." Dust-2 said.

"Missiles will work just fine." Lionel stated.

"Copy, HQ. Dust-1 and Dust-2 making its' second strafe. Over." Dust-2 stated over the scroll before passing the Kraken from the direction of the ocean. After making it a reasonable distance away from the Kraken, they quickly turned around and began heading straight for the beast.

"Get ready, everyone." Jaune said as they all readied their weapons.

The fighter jets launched all of their missiles, sixteen from each, for a total of thirty-two being fired. The Hunters each activated the long-range version of their weapons and began attacking as well. The explosions seemed to cover every square inch of the Kraken's front and it showed.

As expected, the beast screeched as loud as it could before it began backing up into the ocean. When all of the explosion had subsided, the beast was still making its way into the ocean. His head finally submerged into the water and its form, under the water, could be seen continuing to move away. Blake was heading toward the shore at an angle, so she saw the beast continue out.

"It's gone; it is still heading away from the shore." Blake stated from the boat.

"Blake?!" Jaune yelled. "How are you? And Yang? And everyone? Where are you guys?" he asked frantically.

"We're in a dinghy heading for the shore that the Kraken just left from." Blake informed.

"There. I see them." Ren said as he pointed out toward the boat.

"I'm glad to hear you're okay. Hurry back…we've all got a lot to talk about." Lionel stated. "All units should now be focused on the White Fang fleet south of Patch. I want them out of Vale waters by dusk." He finished in his normal motivational tone.

* * *

"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she hugged her sister with all her leftover strength after she finally woke up.

"Careful, sis…I'm still hurting pretty bad." Yang said in a tired yet happy tone.

"Of course. You attempted a search and rescue after fighting me. You're bound to be in immense pain." Weiss said with a slight smirk.

"Nice to see you too, Ice Queen. By the way, How long have I been out?" Yang asked with a sigh and a smile.

"Just a few hours." Blake said as she pointed to the clock.

"Yeah, we just got in the hospital like an hour ago" Ruby said causing Yang to breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's nice to see all of you together again." Lionel said as he entered the room. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Just some bruises, stitches, and exhaustion. We'll be fine in like…two days." Yang said with her usual demeanor.

"That's good because I'm going to need to at full strength." Lionel said with a chuckle.

"You need us kicking some White Fang ass?" Yang asked.

"No. The military did an excellent job at that. Except…" Lionel trailed off.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"The White Fang began to retreat not long after the Kraken left us alone. The strange thing is…they weren't covering their retreat with fire-power. We managed to capture a few of their ships and we found them to be…well…empty." Lionel stated.

"Empty?" Yang asked in confusion.

"Yes. And judging from the ones that we sank, they didn't have anything in them either. I think that the real plan was to launch that thing from the submarine the whole time. We know the White Fang have more fuel and munitions than that. They were nowhere near prepared for an all-out assault." Lionel explained.

"So they can still attack in full force anytime?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, but I think they are going to wait for shit to hit the fan, so to speak." Lionel said with a sigh.

"So we've heard…a Grimm War, then? Are you absolutely sure that this is what's happening?" Weiss asked.

Lionel did not answer but rather activated the room's sound-canceller. He turned around, pulled his scroll out, and began a private chat. He placed his scroll on the floor on one side of the room, where the girls were laying in their beds, to allow the holograms a lot of space to activate. A series of numbers and letter began to fill the room as they were displayed for only a moment before another replaced it.

"Wow." Weiss said.

"What? What is it?" Ruby asked.

"An encryption." Blake informed.

"Not just any encryption. This has to be one of the most advanced encryptions I have ever seen." Weiss stated.

"I don't want to have to repeat myself, so I will answer everyone's questions at once." Lionel said as the number disappeared and were replaced by holograms. A hologram of all of the Kingdom's Leaders, Military Officials, and Hunting Academy Headmasters appeared on the other side of the room.

"This is a private channel protected by my own personal encryption. This is the time to ask your questions after I finish my explanation." Lionel said. Each of the people present remained completely silent. They all stared him down with badly-hidden worry. A Grimm War is something no one was prepared for.

Lionel exhaled as he prepared himself, "As most of you know, the first Grimm War occurred during–"

Ironwood scoffed, "First Grimm War? I'm not even convinced this is a second–"

"Shut up." Lionel stated arrogantly leaving Ironwood in utter surprise.

"The first Grimm War occurred during the second era. You believe, however, that most of the information from that time is lost…that is not true. The Knights have kept it hidden from you for your own safety." Lionel stated as he pulled out his laptop and typed a few words into the screen. After a few seconds, more holograms appeared before everyone in their respective locations.

It was a Grimm the likes of which no one has ever seen before. There were two holograms that appeared of the same creature. One was a looped .gif of the beast in a walking motion and the other was a still hologram of it spinning in a three-hundred-sixty-degree motion. Its' overall body structure was strangely humanoid in nature, that is to say, it stood and walked upright and moved its arms in the same manner a person would when walking. It was covered in black fur, with seemingly random, small areas of red fur, and the legs seemed to bend in a similar way to a cat's legs, indicating that it would be able to run at high speeds.

Covering its lower legs, below the knee, and its feet was the typical white bone-like substance that most Grimm had across their bodies. Its arms look almost identical to a person's with the exception of the fur and, yet again, the white bone-like material that started at the elbows and covered the forearms and most of the hands. It was well built and very muscular and, after just a moment of analyzing, the three-sixty-degree view was added to by a six-foot tall silhouette of a person, which showed that the beast was about eight feet tall.

Its crotch and chest were also covered by the white bone-like substance, which, after taking the entire body into account, looked as though it was wearing armor. Finally, its head, which was covered by the white bone-like material, which looked like some sort of demonic helmet, could not be made out. The only thing which could be seen were its' teeth which were sharp, and its' deep, purple pupils.

Both Blake and Ruby seemed to be in slight discomfort at the sight of such a beast for reasons unknown to them. "What is it?" Blake asked, masking her trepidation well.

"An intelligent Grimm." Lionel responded.

"Impossible. I've spent decades studying Grimm and they do not possess the capability of intelligent thought. The closest that they can get would be the Goliaths who only show an ability to recognize action and consequence." The Haven Academy Headmaster stated.

"Then why don't you please inform us as to the attributes and characteristics of this monster." Lionel said as they all looked to him.

"I've never seen it before." The Haven Headmaster stated. "But, we don't even know this is real…why are you showing us this anyway?" he asked trying to change the subject.

Lionel pressed a button on his laptop which pulled up another hologram. "This is video footage from a scouting outpost in Forever Fall that shows the thing launched from the submarine." Lionel stated as the video began to play. It showed an unidentifiable object impacting the ground at great velocity. "Let's fast forward a bit…" he said as he began to speed up the video until a black figure showed up in the distance. "It's a damn good thing all of our units were out on search and rescue of fighting the White Fang fleet." Lionel stated as he allowed the video to play at normal speed.

The video showed the creature walking closer to the outpost, from the impact zone, and eventually walking closer to the outpost before static began to interrupt the video before the entire thing crashed. When the video feed restarted, the camera was on the ground, with many cracks across the screen, and the outpost was engulfed in flames. Lionel rewound the video the moment before the static took over and paused the video to show that exact same beast as in the hologram next to it.

"I am now sending you all of the information we have on this beast." Lionel said as he began to type on his laptop.

"This information…it's…" Ironwood stuttered.

"It's hundreds of years old." Ozpin stated.

"That's because the last time we saw this monster was the first Grimm War." Lionel said. "Surely you all know the reason why that Grimm War was so different than any other Grimm assault, right?" Lionel asked.

"Because the Grimm during the Grimm War attacked, not only en masse, but they were unusually organized." Blake stated causing Lionel to smile.

"Indeed. This is the reason for that unusual organization. A leader." Lionel said.

"So this thing takes control of all of the Grimm and organizes an assault. He's that intelligent?" Ironwood asked in disbelief.

"You need to stop distinguishing intelligence between us and it. Recognize that this thing has the ability to learn just as well as you. But to answer your question, yes…that is basically the case." Lionel stated.

"How does it control them?" The Shade Academy Headmaster asked in a calm tone.

Lionel pointed to the beast's eyes which led the Shade Headmaster to nod his head as though he already knew the answer. "As we know, Grimm are attracted to things like negative emotion like rage and sadness. We know that they have greater perception than even the faunus. From these two qualities, it is safe to presume that Grimm are generally susceptible to things like mind alteration…which is precisely how this thing operates. It doesn't even talk; the monster will simply beam his words and thought into your head." Lionel stated.

"That has happened to me." Blake said.

"How so? Explain everything from start to finish." Lionel asked in surprise.

"Immediately after Weiss destroyed the propellers, before boarding the vessel, the ship declared an acceleration of their plans. The soldiers got into their battle stations and the Captain of the ship began accessing the launch procedure for…that." Blake said as she pointed to the beast. "Yang had already made it to me by that point and unchained me…we were just waiting for our moment to strike, which came when Weiss attacked. We ran out of the dorms, darted under the walkways, and made our way to the helm of the vessel. Yang had already jury-rigged one of her pulse charges in the mess hall, so when we noticed the soldiers setting up defensive positions in the walkways, she detonated it. Many of the soldiers went back to see what had happened, which allowed us to sneak up to the helm with little resistance, though it took quite a while because neither of us was in a condition to fight. When we finally made it, we quickly ran inside the helm and I closed the door behind us as Yang disposed of everyone in the room." Blake said as she trailed off in a daze.

"When it enters your mind, it can be hard to recall." Lionel said compassionately.

"A surge of energy seemed to go through the ship, but only Yang and I noticed it." Blake stated.

"I was so freaking exhausted that it knocked me out immediately." Yang said.

"I caught her in my arms but I began to hear and see things. The outline of what I saw looked just like that thing, though it looked like a three-dimensional shadow. It said things like 'we were going to die' and 'we were weak' among other things. It really took a toll on me, mentally. I didn't come back to my sense until Ruby placed an oxygen mask on my face." Blake explained.

"Ruby and Weiss, did you see anything in the submarine?" Lionel asked.

"I fell unconscious from my wounds and overexertion, so no." Weiss explained.

"I didn't see or hear anything in the submarine, but that also happened to me yesterday evening." Ruby said.

"When?" Lionel asked in pure surprise, once again.

"Was it when you fainted in my office after the meeting last night, Miss Rose?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes. It was basically the same as what happened to Blake. A shadowy figure saying some really disturbing things." Ruby stated.

"Then it has already begun to gather more strength." Lionel stated.

"What does this mean, Lionel?" Ironwood asked.

"I already told you. Another Grimm War. This thing is going to begin building up an army and it is going to attack us again." Lionel stated.

"Another thing, sir." Ruby said meekly.

"Sure. What's up?" Lionel asked.

"When I went into the helm of the ship, before Blake came back, I saw the Captain of the vessel right after she launched that thing from the submarine. She was badly burned from, what I assume was Yang's attacks…" Ruby said

"You saw her moving? I burned her to a crisp. If there was anyone in that room I would have bet money on being dead, it would have been her." Yang stated.

"I don't know, but…when she turned around to face me, her eyes were a deep purple just like that monster's eyes. She said 'All hail the king' before her eyes turned to a hazel color and falling to the ground." Ruby explained.

"We really are running out of time then." Lionel stated.

"Okay, Lionel. I believe it is time. No more cryptic warnings, no more need-to-know answers. Tell us everything so that we may help you." Ozpin stated.

"Fine. But the truth cannot get to the general public lest we open the possibility of this happening again." Lionel stated with a sigh before he pulled out a chair from the side of the room where a nurse would normally sit, placed it against the wall in between the girl's beds so that he could face everyone. "Here is the truth." He stated after a quick breath to calm his nerves. "Just remember, you asked for it." he said firmly.


	28. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : I know this chapter is quite short, but I was in the process of moving this week and I didn't have time to do much writing between that, school, and work. I should be back on schedule next week, though. Thank you all for bearing with me!

* * *

"The Grimm…are not creatures natural to this world. Rather, they are invaders. We are told that we just barely managed to survive the initial onslaught of the Grimm. But what about before that?" Lionel asked rhetorically. "Before the Grimm, we all lived in peace, without the need for war or money or power. We were a peaceful, ignorant species. That all changed when the Grimm first started to appear." He stated.

"How is it that you can say that with certainty?" Ironwood asked.

"I'll get to that." Lionel said. "Like all good things, however, it could not last forever. Eventually, one person came along who did envy things. Who wanted more than what he already had. This greed eventually turned into a passionate desire, so much so, that he was willing to do anything to obtain more. This anger eventually led him to do unspeakable acts. And that, in turn, created the first Grimm." Lionel stated.

"How did all of the rest of the Grimm come to be?" Ruby asked.

"Corruption." Lionel stated. "This monster's only job is to corrupt everything good in this world. The only real question I have is…how was this monster able to retain his intelligence when the others could not. I've worked for a very long time to try and figure that one out to no avail." He stated.

"So this monster's only purpose is to corrupt?" Ozpin asked.

"Basically." Lionel answered. "After many years, of war, the beast had finally been outmatched by the power of dust. As we pushed the Grimm away from our safe havens, he figured that it was not the time to fight to the last breath. He had most of his Grimm retreat for many centuries. When we became complacent, he attacked again and this was known as the Grimm War." Lionel explained.

"And the rest is history." Ironwood stated.

"Not quite." Lionel stated. "While it is true that the Knights rose up to defeat the Grimm, there was another important fact that was purposely left out of the history books…though it does exist in legend." He said.

"What do you mean?" Ironwood asked.

"The Saviors." Lionel stated.

"They're real?" Ironwood asked.

"Most definitely. The women were right there alongside the Knights, fighting just as hard. The Knights were the ones who drove the Grimm back, but the Saviors are the ones who defeated this beast the first time." Lionel said as he pointed to the hologram in front of everyone.

"Unfortunately, we don't have time to be concerning ourselves with the memories of the deceased." The Haven Academy Headmaster said.

"I told you already, they exist in legend. And legend says they will never die." Lionel explained.

"How do you figure that?" The Haven Academy Headmaster asked.

"You've got to learn to open your mind to more possibilities. The Saviors will be back, and they'll defeat this beast again." Lionel said.

"But until then, we have to prepare for the worst." Ozpin said.

"We should have our militaries ready for an attack at any moment." Ironwood said.

"Agreed. I will see you all at our our next scheduled meeting." Ozpin said as each of the holograms nodded their heads in agreement before disappearing.

"You girls know you have a part to play in this too, right?" Lionel asked.

"Duh. I'ma kick some Grimm ass." Yang stated.

"Of course you will." Lionel said. "I'm going to head back to my house and catch up on come much needed rest, if you need anything…let me know." He stated.

"We will." Ruby said as she waved goodbye.

"The nurse came in earlier and told us that we would have to move to separate rooms later." Weiss said.

"Aww, but we all just got back together." Ruby pouted.

"It's not like they are going to be keeping us away from each other. Besides, most of your wounds have already vanished." Weiss said.

"Is that why they are letting you out early?" Blake asked.

"Yep!" Ruby said.

"Lucky you…you get to sleep in your own bed tonight." Yang mocked jokingly.

"Actually, I wanted to stay here with you guys, but if we're splitting up then I don't know who to hang out with." Ruby said.

"I'm gonna go back to sleep once they take me back to my room, so…I love ya, sis…but a girl needs here beauty sleep." Yang said with a smile.

"Yes, and I am going to go and speak with Ozpin, so I won't be available for a while." Blake said.

"I guess that settles it, you and Weiss can spend all night together." Yang stated.

"Ugh." Weiss scoffed. "Now I'll never get to sleep." She said with a smile.

"She's happy." Yang said before the door opened.

"Ladies, it's time that we moved you now. We've got other patients waiting for entrance to the Intensive Care Unit." The nurse said.

"Perfect timing." Yang said as she stood up with a slight wobble.

"Be careful…" Blake sighed as she was ready to catch Yang if she fell.

"I told you she cares about me." Yang said to Ruby as if Blake wasn't there.

Weiss slowly stood up to prevent as much pain as possible seeing as how she was the most damaged. Ruby was immediately at her side helping her up and helping her bear some of the weight. "Are you okay?" Ruby asked as Blake and Yang began to walk to the door.

"I'll be fine; I just have to take it slow." Weiss said.

"How about we get you a wheelchair so you don't have to be in so much pain." The nurse said and she walked outside only to return moments later with said wheelchair.

"Thank you." Weiss said as she sat down in the chair. She looked around and saw that both Yang and Blake were already gone from the room.

"Ready?" Ruby asked from behind Weiss.

"Yes." Weiss said as Ruby began to push Weiss in the direction of the elevator.

"What is the room number?" Ruby asked the nurse.

"6601. Just take the elevator up three floors and take a right when you exit. It should be at the end of that hall on your left side." The nurse said.

"Thank you!" Ruby said as the elevator doors opened.

"You just love to make all kinds of friends, don't' you?" Weiss asked.

"I guess. I just like being nice to people." Ruby stated as she pushed Weiss into the elevator.

"So I've noticed." Weiss said as the elevator began to move. "I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate you being nice to me. I feel like I've changed a lot." She said.

"You have. Yang still calls you an ice queen to annoy you, but we all know you're not anymore." Ruby said.

"Still. Some of the changes I've gone through…I still don't know what they mean." Weiss said as the elevator came to a stop and the elevator doors opened.

"What do you mean?" Ruby said as she pushed Weiss into the hallway and began heading for her new room.

"You know…I'm not sure. And that's what scares me the most…I've never acted like this before and I don't know if it's right to keep doing it." Weiss said.

"Does it feel right?" Ruby asked.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked in response.

"Does it feel right? Are you happy when you act in this new way?" Ruby said as they made it to Weiss' room and entered.

"I suppose so…You just seem to do it so naturally." Weiss said.

"Do what?" Ruby asked as she closed the door.

"Be so nice. And helpful. And loving. You put everything on the line to save Blake and Yang…then you ended up seriously endangering yourself to save me…which I'm still angry about, by the way." Weiss said.

"Sorry." Ruby said with a chuckle. "What can I do to make it up to you?" she asked.

Weiss stood up from the wheelchair and turned to face Ruby. "You can help me find out if this new me feels right or not." She said.

Ruby raised an eyebrow, "How can I do–"

Her voice was cut off by Weiss in an instant. Usually, the heiress would scold or complain when she interrupted people. But this time she didn't…she was expressing herself in the only way she knew how…the only way to find out if she was okay with who she has become was to take the leap of faith. Weiss had her lips pressed firmly to Ruby's lips. When she pulled away, Ruby was at a loss for words.

"Yes." Weiss said confidently.

"Y-y-yes…?" Ruby muttered.

"I am definitely happy with who I am." Weiss stated.


	29. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : I'm fully moved in now, and I'm loving this apartment. It's so nice to have a place to call my own and be able to just relax, but of course, I've still got about four more weeks of school and finals. I've got to make sure those grades stay up. I do have a question for you all, though. I've got a plan for this story to play out, however, I want to know if you guys and gals wanted to see a lemon in my story. It took a while for the romance to hit, so I don't know if you all would want that to be put in the story since the majority of my chapters haven't focused all that much on their relationships. So, please let me know what you'd want. Other than that, thanks for reading and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

"So you do care about them…that's so sweet." Blake said mockingly as she pressed the elevator button.

"A little, I guess…I just really want all the subtle glances to stop." Yang stated.

"You don't mind that it's the 'Ice Queen' she's fallen for?" Blake asked.

"She's changed from when we first met her…she's a friend now. And one of the requirements to being a friend is pissing each other off a little." Yang stated as she heard a ding from the elevator.

"So you call her Ice Queen?" Blake asked as she and Yang stepped onto the elevator.

"You got it, kitty." Yang stated as the doors closed.

"And…you call me that?" Blake asked blandly.

"Like I said, gotta piss you off. I rest my case." Yang chuckled. "By the way…did you happen to find out where my new room is?" she asked.

"You are absolutely hopeless. Room 5613." Blake stated.

"What would I do without you?" Yang asked rhetorically.

Blake opened her mouth but was cut off by Yang's next comment. "Oh, yeah…I know. I would travel hundreds of miles, across land and sea, infiltrate enemy territory, and kick everyone's ass to get you." She stated as the elevator came to a stop before the doors opened.

"Don't forget about getting knocked unconscious after you get me and forcing your fifteen-year-old sister to do the rest of the heavy lifting." Blake responded to which Yang giggled as they walked down the hall.

"Well…she is MY sister. Are you really surprised?" Yang asked mockingly.

"I suppose not." Blake said as they reached Yang's new room. "But, I haven't thanked you for coming to get me." She said.

"Well…like you just said, it wasn't me that did it in the end." Yang stated as they both entered the new room.

"No, but you were the one who came to get me in the first place. Thank you." Blake said.

"You don't have to say that…you know I wouldn't let anything bad happen to…well, anyone. My friends, especially." Yang stated before she belly-flopped on the bed, facing the opposite way from Blake.

"I know…that's why you need to hear it. You would put your life on the line to save people, but you tell yourself that you do it for the thrill." Blake stated.

"You gonna lecture me and say that my 'true passion is helping people' and the 'thrill is a convenient excuse' or something like that?" Yang asked sarcastically while still facing away.

"Yes." Blake said.

Yang scoffed, "You can't be–"

"Prove me wrong." Blake stated earning a moment of silence. "Turn around and say 'You're welcome.'" She continued.

Yang sat up in her bed, still facing the opposite direction. She turned her head to the side to see Blake standing in her peripheral vision; she had her arms crossed and held a slight scolding look on her face. Yang turned around fully to face her partner and sighed, "You're welcome. There. Happy?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

"Like you said…gotta piss you off a little." Blake stated with a grin.

"Go to hell." Yang said with a chuckle.

"If I did, you'd probably come to get me." Blake stated.

"You know it, babe." Yang said as she laid herself down on her back and closed her eyes.

Yang felt a warm touch to her forehead before her eyes shot open. She saw Blake standing over her planting a sweet kiss on her head. "I need to go and speak to Ozpin now, but I'll make sure to bring you some dinner. I know the food here must be terrible. Do you have anything in mind for me to bring you?" Blake asked as she began to back away toward the door.

"I know exactly what I want…" Yang said.

"I bet." Blake said with a wink as she turned around and exited the room.

* * *

"You may enter." Ozpin stated after he heard a knock on the door.

Blake entered the room and began to make her way to Ozpin's desk. "Sir, I have a question that has been bothering me." She stated.

"Of course. Please, take a seat and let's talk." Ozpin said as he stood and walked to the side of his office to the coffee maker. "Glynda gave me this new coffee maker as a birthday present. You simply must try it." He stated.

Blake giggled. "You have such a strange way of calming people." She said.

"My goodness…whatever do you mean?" Ozpin asked sarcastically as he poured the coffee.

"Play coy if you wish…I know you do it on purpose." Blake stated just as sarcastically.

"Believe what you want." Ozpin said as he carried the two cups to his desk and placed one in front of Blake. "Now, what can I do for you?" he asked.

"We're beginning to learn that many of the legends that we learn as children have some truth behind them." Blake said as she began pouring milk into her coffee as she stirred the slowly-whitening liquid. "So…" she continued.

"So?" Ozpin urged her.

"The White Fang wear those masks because humans call us monsters…compare us to Grimm. Do you think that we actually are Grimm? That perhaps we're simply humans who began to be corrupted, but never fully turned?" Blake said quickly as though she was worried that she would talk herself out of saying it if she took too long.

Ozpin sat in silence for a few seconds as he sipped his coffee. "What has led you to this train of thought?" he asked.

"I mean…it just seems reasonable. I would love to stand up and say that humans and faunus are equal in every way. But I'm not a fool…Faunus have higher amounts of sexual hormones, which leads to more aggressive behavior; we have physical traits that make us better at fighting, and physiological traits that make it easier to survive. Faunus are, in most ways, more of a predatory species than humans." Blake explained with worry in her voice.

"I have absolutely no evidence to support my next statement beyond what I have seen within my lifetime. But, I do not think that the faunus are, as you say, incomplete Grimm." Ozpin stated.

"What 'life experiences' do you have that has led you to that conclusion?" Blake asked as she took her first sip of coffee.

"First, and most important, the initial signs of a Grimm are the expression and desire for negativity. Even this new, intelligent monster, before any sign of change, showed these same signs." Ozpin explained.

"For the sake of my sanity, humor me. What if?" Blake asked.

"If what you say is a true statement, would it even matter? The fact is: there will always be people who will not agree with you. That is to say, there will always be humans who have a disdain for faunus and vice versa." Ozpin stated.

Blake took another sip of her coffee, "But what if this information–"

"Furthermore, if, on the off chance, the faunus happen to be 'related' to the Grimm. Then that just means it will be even more valuable when you speak out." Ozpin said.

"What do you mean when I speak out?" Blake asked.

"You are the perfect example of what both bigoted humans and extremist faunus hate. If your little conspiracy theory is true, then your level-headed demeanor will be cited as a reason for why those bigots are wrong as well as why the extremists will never become the majority." Ozpin explained.

"I don't see how my viewpoint is all that valuable." Blake said.

"Just listen to what you said earlier about the naturally aggressive nature of the faunus. Yet in the same breath, you would readily say that the humans are in the wrong in terms of they treat faunus. If I were a bigot, I would think that this natural aggression would justify my actions. And, if I were an extremist, I would call you a traitor for even daring to speak negatively about the faunus." Ozpin explained.

"But what I said was a factual statement. The faunus are more aggressive…and that can be seen in any video recording of a faunus criminal and a police officer. Of course, there is some prejudice, just like in any group of people, but overall, the police handle violent crimes perfectly. The reason I say that the faunus are still treated as second-rate citizens is mostly because of the labor and lack of acceptance in higher education. That doesn't involve violent activity so there is no reason for it." Blake explained.

"I agree. But you seem to forget how little the public care about the full truth. They only want the part of the facts that supports their view. If you said all of that to Weiss' father, for example, he would just pick out the part about violence and go on with his day." Ozpin said as he shared a laugh with Blake.

"I suppose that is true. Thank you." Blake said.

"Of course. Now, is there anything else I can do for you?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes, actually. Ruby explained that the Captain in the submarine was under the influence of mind manipulation dust. Obviously, this intelligent Grimm is probably able to manipulate the minds of people with more negativity within their hearts, which would be the White Fang. But, would this manipulation be able to turn the White Fang into Grimm, even if what I said earlier turns out to be true?" Blake asked before taking another drink from her cup.

"Now that seems like a much more likely scenario, unfortunately." Ozpin stated.

"So you think that's what is happening to them?" Blake asked.

"We don't know for sure what it takes for this monster to be able to corrupt people or the process behind it. So, I can't say for certain. But I would err on the side of caution just to be safe. It seems highly likely they the White Fang could be corrupted." Ozpin said as he finished his coffee.

"A part of me…" Blake trailed off.

"Please continue, Miss Belladonna." Ozpin said.

Blake sighed as a tear slid down her face. "A part of me just wants the White Fang to get corrupted so we could just kill them and be done with it." Blake said as more tears began to emerge from her eyes.

"I understand. Sometimes it's easy to think that the extreme route would be the simplest way to solve a problem…and most of the time, it is. That doesn't mean it is the right choice, however." Ozpin said.

"I know. I keep telling myself that many of the White Fang members are just people who had no other choice. They were less fortunate that joining the White Fang was the only way for them to have a place to sleep and meals to eat. I know that's how it was for me. And when your surrounded by people who repeat the same lies over and over, it's easy to become indoctrinated." Blake stated.

"That's good. You have no idea how often I wish I could use my position to push something through congress that would disallow humans to berate faunus. But…" Ozpin slowed down.

"But, freedom of speech is the cornerstone of modern civilization and chipping away at it, even just a little, would pave the way for it to happen in the future." Blake stated in response.

"Precisely." Ozpin said.

"I can only hope to be as noble and well-carried as you one day." Blake said as she finished her coffee. "Just maybe without the caffeine addiction…" she finished.

Ozpin laughed before he stood up. "Trust me, there are aspects that you have which I would greatly desire as well. But, we have to settle for who we are and strive to improve ourselves." He stated as he extended his hand.

"I agree, thank you so much for talking to me." Blake said as she shook his hand.

"Anytime. But, you know, the best people to talk to are your closest friends." Ozpin stated.

"Yes. There's one in particular who I should go and speak with." Blake said.

"Yes. I see the way 'this person' acts when you're around. Trust me when I say that there would be no better person for listening when you're truly in need of support than someone you love." Ozpin stated.

"Yes, sir." Blake said as she placed the coffee mug down and turned for the door.

"Miss Belladonna…" Ozpin said.

"Yes?" Blake said as she entered the elevator while holding the door open.

"You said earlier that we are finding out that our legends aren't so mythical." Ozpin said as he thought for a second. "Trust Lionel. Whatever he says, trust him." He finished.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"That's not for me to say." Ozpin answered. "But that's not something you need to concern yourself with now. What we all need, right now, is Team RWBY back to full strength. So make sure a certain someone doesn't sneak out with stitches in their throat this time." He finished with a laugh.

"Don't worry. I'll kick her ass myself if she thinks about skipping a physical therapy session." Blake giggled as she allowed the elevator door to close.

* * *

Yang shot up when she heard the door open. "You could've given me a call; I would have helped you." She said as she took two of the bags from Blake's arms.

"It's only three bags." Blake said as she placed the last bag on the ground.

"Yeah, but they're bags for me." Yang said as she began to pull out her food as well as several other snacks.

"True." Blake conceded.

Yang placed each of the items on the counter like a makeshift buffet of junk food. "Thank you!" she said after turning around and engulfing her partner in her signature bear hug.

"Note to self: if I ever need some work done, I can bribe you with food." She said.

"Trust me, sweetheart, there are a few other things you can bribe me with." Yang said before opening a bag sour candy and downing half of the bag in one go.

"Good to know." Blake said as she took her coat off and rested her back against Yang's right shoulder. She proceeded to grab some of the food, albeit more elegantly.

"What did you talk to Ozpin about?" Yang asked with a mouthful of candy.

"I had some questions about the Grimm and the White Fang. Nothing too important." Blake stated as she ate the candy one piece at a time.

"You wouldn't bother asking if it wasn't important. But, I won't pry. You do you, babe." Yang stated as she continued to inhale her junk food.

"How do you manage to be so nice and then ruin it with your eating habits." Blake laughed.

"It's one of my charms." Yang replied.

"I agree." Blake sighed.

"What's wrong?" Yang asked as she placed her candy back down.

Blake placed her bag of candy down on the counter and faced Yang, but remained silent. Yang looked on in confusion, "What–"

Blake seemed to tackle Yang onto the bed in a deep kiss. Yang just barely managed to slither her way onto the entire bed comfortably. Blake was straddling Yang's waist as her back was bent downward keeping Yang's lips sealed with her own. Blake eventually pulled away with the only sound in the room being their heavy breathing.

"Was that for the attempted rescue?" Yang asked in between breaths.

"No." Blake replied. "That's just for being you." She finished as she smashed her lips bag to Yang's, who took her opportunity to grab her partner's butt. Blake pulled her lips away just a few millimeters, "Really...?" she asked with a slight laugh.

"I've been waiting to do this." Yang said as she took her partner's lips captive. Yang used her unparalleled strength to pick up Blake by her butt and place her on her back so that Yang could trap her on the bed with her body.

"All you needed was the green light to take charge, huh?" Blake asked mockingly.

"Kitty cat, I would've gone full speed with just a yellow light." Yang replied as she grabbed her partner's wrists and held them down to the bed on the side of her head. "But, I like being on top." She stated.

Blake wrapped her legs around Yang's butt and pulled her closer to her body, taking her lips captive once again. Blake used the moment to shift her weight onto Yang causing her to fall on her back with Blake on top of her. "So do I." Blake said as she gave her one more kiss before standing back up and noticing her bow had fallen off.

"Aww…all done?" Yang asked mockingly.

"Shh." Blake said as she placed her finger to her lips mimicking the same motion as her words. She began to run her hands through her hair to make it look less messy. Just a few seconds later there was a knock on the door.

"Miss Xiao Long?" The nurse asked.

"Uhh. Yes?" Yang replied as she saw Blake point to her cat ears and give her a wink.

"Yes, since you just got up her, I have to admit you. It involves answering a bunch of questions and will probably take a minute. Is that okay?" the nurse asked.

"Sure." Yang stated.

"Do you need me to leave?" Blake asked.

"Not unless you want to. I know you're on the same team as her, so I don't mind." The nurse replied.

"You can stay...if you want." Yang said.

"Alright." Blake said as she picked up another bag of candy and sat down on a stool next to Yang's bed.


	30. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

* * *

"Put your fists closer together, sis." Yang stated as she mimicked the correct stance.

"It feels like when we were younger…you know, before I started training and when you were still learning. I would always copy your workout sessions." Ruby laughed.

"Oh, yeah! I remember that. You were so cute when you tried to look serious and throw a punch." Yang cooed.

"But this isn't pretending anymore. We very well can't have you losing Crescent Rose on the battlefield and becoming dead weight." Weiss said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"You can just hear the love echoing from her voice." Blake said sarcastically before taking a drink of her water.

"S-shut up!" Weiss said in annoyance.

"Aww! She's concerned about me!" Ruby said.

Weiss scoffed. "Remember to use your semblance with your attacks. Don't expect to hit quite as hard as Yang. You're going to be more focused on quick jabs and a few strong, quick strikes." She said attempting to change the subject.

"Exactly." Yang said as she picked up a large punching bag filled with sand and hung it on a hook protruding from the wall. "I want you to attack this S-O-B with everything you've got." She stated.

Ruby readied herself in Yang's fighting stance and focused on her target. She lashed out at incredible speed attacking the punching bag from nearly all sides before returning to her starting position. The other ladies were impressed; it looked as though a red gust of wind and rose petals was abusing the punching bag. "How was that?" she asked.

"Not bad, but we need to mix it up a little. One of the worst things in hand-to-hand is going for the same attack over and over again." Yang said.

"Indeed. Ruby, were you focusing on attacking each individual point before actually striking them? Or was the whole punching bag your target?" Weiss asked.

"Umm. The whole thing, I guess." Ruby replied

"That's fine for large groups of people. But try focusing on the center point and attacking it with the full force of your semblance." Weiss stated.

Ruby returned to her fighting stance and stared directly in the center of the punching bag. She darted forward and punched as hard as her semblance would allow. When she opened her eyes, she was on the other side of the punching bag; she turned around and saw that she had ripped a hole on the left side…of someone else's punching bag.

"Were you aiming there, Rubes?" Yang asked with a smirk.

Ruby shook her head as she looked down in embarrassment.

"I hope that was just a fluke then." Yang stated.

"I can't really see in all that great of detail while moving at high speeds." Ruby said while still avoiding the eyes of her teammates.

"I thought you could control your body's chemistry. Can't you make your eyes better for the duration of your attack?" Blake asked.

"The eyes are already so close to the brain that any change I make would only have a significant effect over long periods of time. With my quick attacks, it doesn't really matter." Ruby explained with her eyes downcast on the ground.

"Sounds like you need more practice then. Maybe get a feel for focusing your body on directed movements at high speeds." Yang said.

"It's not that simple…" Ruby said.

"Listen, Ruby." Weiss said as she tilted her partner's chin up with her hand. "You are going to try again and again until you get it right. And you WILL get it right." She said in an authoritarian tone.

"I will? How?" Ruby asked.

"Because I said so." Weiss stated before taking her leader in a hug.

Yang looked to Blake and made a puking motion. "Get a room, guys!" Yang said in a deeper voice and looking around pretending as though someone else said it.

"On the inside, she's really happy." Blake said with a smile.

"The only thing inside of me that feels something is my stomach. Are you guys all done with your workouts?" Yang asked.

"I just finished." Blake said as she turned the screen on the gym's exercise bike off.

"Yeah. I'll start incorporating this into my workouts from now on." Ruby said.

"I'm all done, as well." Weiss said.

"Great. So…shower and food?" Yang asked.

"That sounds good." Blake said as she stepped off the bike and began walking to the locker room. Yang took one glance at her partner walking away before her eyes were glued to her posterior.

"Seriously?" Weiss asked as she crossed her arms.

"Don't hate just because you've got no libido." Yang said as Blake enter the locker room, interrupting her viewing session.

Weiss rolled her eyes before picking up her water bottle and making her way to the locker room. Ruby turned her eyes to Weiss' butt as she made her way to the door. "I don't get it…it's a butt." She said as she looked to her sister.

"With age comes wisdom, Ruby." Yang said as she patted her sister on the head and picked up her workout towel. "c'mon." she stated.

Ruby picked up her water bottle and caught back up to her sister as they both walked into the locker room.

* * *

"Have we confirmed who the captain of that submarine was?" Lionel asked.

"Yes. According to Miss Rose's description and the intel we've acquired, we have every reason to believe that it was Romanov Synther." Ozpin stated.

"That just doesn't make any sense. She was the one with the semblance to essentially void most of our defense technology. But they sent her in head first, without backup? And we know the mission itself was meant to be a distraction since the ships weren't carrying any munitions. Whatever they are planning could be made even better with her still alive." Ironwood stated.

"Honestly, I don't believe the White Fang leaders are calling the shots anymore. Ruby also said that Lieutenant Synther's eyes were glowing purple. That tells us she was being controlled and, since the beast's egg was incubating on the ship, it makes sense that everyone on board would be affected." Lionel said.

"An egg? This thing hatched?" Ironwood asked in disbelief.

"Well, it's not like another intelligent Grimm laid an egg. They took an egg from another Grimm and injected it with a cocktail of DNA from many other Grimm, among other things." Lionel stated.

"That's how it was born?" Ozpin asked.

"Reborn would be a better term. Whenever it is killed, it simply splits its' consciousness among all of the other Grimm in the World. This is what makes the Grimm specifically seek out negativity. When a large enough portion of its' consciousness is assembled in one being, it becomes aware and begins recalling the rest of its' mind." Lionel explained.

"It's never really going to actually be dead when we kill it then…right?" Ironwood asked.

"Unfortunately so. It will never die…at least, not in the conventional way we see death. This is why we kept this covered up for so many centuries. If it were common knowledge, then there would always come a person who thought that the world deserved this monster's rampage. Or those who think they can control it." Lionel stated.

"Which do you think the White Fang are? Eager for death and destruction or control freaks?" Ironwood asked.

"Probably some of both, more so the latter. They probably didn't expect for it to go this far." Lionel said.

"What will be our next course of action…with the girls, I mean." Ironwood asked to which Lionel sent glare toward Ozpin.

"Yes. I told him about how we believe that Team RWBY is the reincarnation of the Saviors. I think the time for secrets, between us at least, has far passed." Ozpin stated.

"I suppose that is true." Lionel said before thinking about his next choice of words. "Honestly, I think they need a lot more training…however, we don't have the time for that." Lionel said as he, again, thought about the situation carefully.

"General." Ironwood said gaining Lionel's attention. "What else aren't you telling us about the girls." He asked.

"I am interested as well…from what you've said, the Saviors only lengthy feet was killing this monster. While I am not discounting the effort they must have put in, most legends tend to be far greater in their majesty. The Knight-General and his unparalleled strength. The four Maidens and their incredible power. The Saviors, however, seem to be rather bland." Ozpin said.

"Indeed. What other power do they possess? Or are you simply clinging to past glory?" Ironwood asked.

"Well, for one, the whole reincarnation thing." Lionel said sarcastically to which Ironwood rolled his eyes. "As for what you're asking…I don't know. That's something I've thought about many of times…why are they so normal?" he stated.

"You have no clue?" Ironwood asked.

"Well, I have some ideas. But nothing concrete…or even significantly interesting. Honestly, I think they're going to show us their true power soon enough. That's not important right now; we need to get them ready for a fight." Lionel said.

"I saw them heading to the gym this morning. I believe that they have already taken it upon themselves to begin preparing." Ozpin said.

"The kind of preparedness they will need is far greater than anything this academy can muster. And I'm pretty sure that my training wouldn't be legal for minors anyway." Lionel joked.

"Do what you have to do in order to have them ready for the worst." Ironwood stated.

"That's really easy to say when they're not yours. Taiyang and Qrow have already informed me that they don't approve of me training Ruby and Yang for this…but they relented nevertheless. The Schnee family, however, is rather insistent." Lionel said with a smile.

"How do you mean?" Ozpin asked to which Lionel sent a message from his phone to each of the men.

"My goodness." Ozpin said.

"I don't even hear my drill sergeants speaking that way. An interesting metaphor and surprisingly graphic descriptions." Ironwood said.

"Yeah. But, that has only pushed me to train them even harder." Lionel said with a laugh before hearing the elevator door open.

"What's so funny guys?" Ruby asked as she and her team walked in.

"Weiss' parents." Lionel answered.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked quizzically.

"You're not excused. Your parents are always fun to laugh at." Yang stated.

"Though they're not perfect, I don't think we should make fun of them." Weiss stated.

"She's right. We mustn't be rude. They are going to be the ones supplying us with the munitions needed for this endeavor." Ozpin said.

"So, have you guys figured out what's happening?" Yang asked as she pulled a chair from one of the desks, turned it backward, and sat down with her chin resting on the back of the chair.

"First of all, why are we meeting in one of the classrooms?" Weiss asked.

"The attack from the fleet, interestingly enough, began immediately after I was told about its' presence." Ironwood said.

"You believe that your office is bugged?" Weiss asked.

"That is more-or-less accurate. I don't have any evidence to support such a claim, but…it's better to be safe than be sorry." Ozpin stated.

"To answer Yang's question, we have begun piecing together the events of what took place." Lionel said.

"So, no. You haven't figured it out." Yang stated blandly.

"Correct." Lionel stated just as blandly.

"Do you have any other information regarding the Saviors you spoke of?" Blake asked.

Lionel, Ozpin, and Ironwood remained silent for a moment as though each of them was trying to think of an appropriate answer. Ironwood sighed, "Ladies, you should know–"

"–there is nothing that we wouldn't tell you in this situation. Trust me, we need all the help we can get. But, we've just been unable to figure out anything more about the Saviors." Lionel interrupted earning weary glances from both Ozpin and Ironwood.

"I see. Then what is our next course of action?" Blake asked.

"I need to return to the White Fang outpost with Qrow." Lionel said.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"The White Fang are acting differently…and there's a distinct presence there. I feel like our new friend is hiding out there now. We never actually got a chance to take control of the area and if it is hiding there, we should find out why." Lionel stated.

"Okay, what do you want us to do?" Yang asked.

"For now, stay low and keep training. This is not something that should be solved with an all-out war. We need intelligence before we make any moves." Lionel explained as she stood up from his chair.

"That's it?" Ruby asked.

"That's it." Lionel replied.

"Boring." Yang stated.

"I know. But you have to remember, this is not something that happens every day. The potential for a Grimm invasion is real and I'm trying to make sure no one has to die due to it." Lionel said.

"I understand." Ruby said. "But…what do you plan on doing after you reach the outpost?" She asked.

"Well, I'm hoping to meet Qrow there and, if things are looking up, we'll try to get those coordinates again to bomb the place. If that monster is hiding out there, then it would be corrupting all of the White Fang in the outpost. If that's the case, they shouldn't be able to think critically and taking it over should be no problem." Lionel said.

"What would that actually accomplish?" Blake asked.

"I explained this before the four of you arrived, but basically the monster is not at full strength right now. It will take some time to regain his lost mind and it will take a bit for it to do that." Lionel stated.

"So if you can kick some ass before it's able to regain its' power?" Yang asked.

"Pretty much." Lionel affirmed.

"Well, keep us updated at least…we want to help." Ruby said.

"Trust me, ladies…you'll have your chance." Lionel said as he gathered his weapon from the ground, sheathed it on his back, and began walking to the door. "Wish me luck." He stated before exiting.

"I suppose I should be on my way as well…" Ironwood stated.

"Alright. Keep us informed if you find out anything new." Ozpin stated as Ironwood nodded his head in affirmation.

"And ladies…good luck." Ironwood stated.

"With what?" Yang asked.

"With everything." Ironwood said before his hologram disappeared.

"I am going to retire for the night. It has been a long day." Ozpin said. "Is there anything else you ladies need before I leave?" he asked as he stood up.

"No, sir. Have a good night." Ruby said.

"Indeed. Get some rest girls." Ozpin said as he left for the exit.

Yang sighed. "You guys hungry?" Yang asked.

"Again?!" Weiss stated.


	31. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

* * *

 **Minor Volume 4 Spoiler Alert - Read the Author's Note**

 **Author's Note** : Hello all, in honor of Volume 4, I've added a few additions to my story. Don't worry to those of you who haven't seen Volume 4, because there are NO PLOT SPOILERS in my story at all. I've simply added a new minor character from Volume 4 into my story, and I might do the same in the future. The characters I've added (or will add) will not have anything beyond their basic character traits and relationships to the main characters presented. I understand, however, that there are some people who do not wish to know even the slightest detail until they've had a chance to watch it for themselves...and I fully understand that so read at your own discretion. Other than that, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Hugs and kisses to all!

* * *

"Ozpin!" Yang yelled as she kicked his office elevator doors onto the floor.

"Yang, that's really unnecessary…" Weiss sighed.

"I wanted to make sure I got his attention." Yang stated.

"That is the single most moronic excuse I have ever heard." Weiss said.

"It's quite alright…the longer I waited, the more I expected a loud reaction." Ozpin stated as he sipped his coffee.

"How are you okay with that?" Weiss asked.

"When you've worked here as long as I have, you tend to get used to the way things operate." Ozpin chuckled. "Now, please, take a seat." Ozpin said as he pointed to the four chairs opposite from his desk.

"You normally only have two chairs here." Blake said.

"Very astute." Ozpin commented.

"What do the chair have to do with anything?" Yang asked.

"Since there's a place for each of us to sit, when there normally isn't, he's been expecting us." Blake explained.

"I honestly expected the four of you last night, but it seems ~something~ prevented you from inquiring sooner." Ozpin said mockingly to which Yang gave a nervous laughter.

"Yeah…those crazy kids sure were making a lot of noise. Then we had to wait until all of our classes were done today…" Yang stated while scratching her head.

"Smooth…" Blake stated.

"Indeed." Ozpin said before taking another sip of his coffee. "But, please, sit…we have to talk." Ozpin stated.

"Damn straight we do." Yang said as she plopped in the chair on the right, which from Ozpin's perspective would have her sitting on his left. Each of the ladies followed suit by sitting next to one another. From Ozpin's point-of-view, Yang was on the left, next was Blake, then Ruby, and finally Weiss was on Ozpin's right. There was a sudden clang of metal that came from behind Team RWBY. When they turned around, they saw the familiar sight of Glynda using her semblance, telekinesis, to pick up the door and fix it in a matter of seconds.

"That never stops being cool." Ruby stated in awe.

Ozpin cleared his throat in order to get the lady's attention. "First and foremost, I would like to apologize for not keeping you updated…but I have been left in the dark for the past few days as well. I wanted to wait for more instruction, or information, from Lionel before proceeding…but I have heard nothing." Ozpin explained.

"Nothing? Was he captured?" Yang asked in surprise.

"I find that highly unlikely. I believe he has simply gone lone wolf for whatever reason…he does that from time to time." Ozpin stated.

"He'll just stop all contact until he takes care of his business?" Blake asked.

"Basically, yes…it's quite annoying." Glynda said as she approached from behind with five mugs of coffee, a jar of cream, a jar of sugar, and a sixth mug containing six spoons being held by her semblance. She placed one of the mugs in front of each of the girls as well as the cream, sugar, and spoons in the middle of the desk.

"Thank you very much, Glynda." Ozpin stated as she took a seat next to Ozpin on what was, presumably, a stool since it was not seen be any of the ladies prior to her sitting down.

"Of course." Glynda stated as she placed a spoonful of sugar in her coffee and began to stir.

"When was the last time you heard from him?" Ruby asked as she began placing spoonful after spoonful of sugar in her coffee.

"Approximately three days ago. The last message I received was rather cryptic." Ozpin said as he pressed a button on his computer which activated a hologram in the center of his desk. The message popped up and read 'Everything is sorted out. I'll keep you updated.'

"How many messages have you gotten?" Weiss asked to which Ozpin pressed another button causing the full chat to be revealed.

"Only four." Ozpin said as he sipped his coffee. The first message stated 'I didn't meet up with Qrow because he found another base where similar events are occurring. Something seems off about this place now.' The second said 'I've made it inside to the cargo bay and everyone seems like they are in a daze. I don't think anyone here has control over their own minds anymore.' The third message seemed rushed and almost panicked as it stated 'We need to burn this place to the ground fast. I soon as I get the dust, the faunus will lead me to the goal. TELL TEAM RWBY TO STAY SAFE!'

"That's kinda' creepy…" Yang commented as she began pouring cream into her coffee before taking a spoonful of sugar and stirring it in as well.

"Indeed. You've been with him the longest. In fact, you four are probably the people who have spent the most time with him since he became the Knight-General. He otherwise keeps to himself. So, what would you make of this?" Ozpin asked.

"If it were anyone else, I would assume they have been captured given the change in tone from the last two messages." Weiss stated as she poured only cream into her coffee and began to mix the liquid.

"I agree. So what should we make of this?" Blake asked as she poured the most cream into her coffee and only a half of a spoonful of sugar into it.

"I don't know…what would you think in this scenario?" Ruby asked toward Ozpin.

"I would do what I've always done with him. Keep trusting him and let him do his own thing. He always seems to make things work out in the end." Ozpin stated.

"Not very helpful." Yang stated.

"I know…unfortunately, you four have chosen an interesting path by being trained by him." Ozpin explained before taking another sip from his coffee.

"I have another question." Blake stated.

"Of course Miss Belladonna, what can I do?" Ozpin asked.

"I know that the Captain of the Submarine was Romanov Synther, and I'm fairly certain she isn't alive anymore. That said, do you believe we're in any danger of being attacked again?" Blake asked.

"No. Especially if Lionel is correct when he said that the White Fang are being controlled. If that turns out to be accurate, then we'll have to find some way to defeat this monster and release the faunus he has under his control." Ozpin explained.

"I would appreciate that." Blake replied.

"So, you four have no clue as to how we should proceed in regard to this message?" Ozpin asked.

"No, sir…I wish we could help more." Ruby said.

"It's quite alright Miss Rose, there is no need to apologize." Ozpin said as he finished his coffee. "Well, unless you have any other inquiries, I have a meeting with Beacon faculty soon…it's beginning to get dark outside anyway." He said.

"Yeah, we're good. If you get any other messages from him, let us know right away." Yang said before she finished she coffee along with the other members of her team.

"I will. Take care ladies." Ozpin said as Team RWBY stood up and made their way back to the elevator. The elevator doors closed and each of the ladies remained silent until the elevator started to move.

"Ready?" Yang asked as the elevator was half way to the bottom.

"The airship is already docked and they have our weapons and supplies on board." Weiss said.

"I'm glad you all saw it, too." Blake said as she eyed Yang.

"Hey! I'm not a nerd like the Ice Queen, but I know hunting!" Yang stated.

"We need to burn this place down fast…" Ruby said with a giggle. "I'm the 'fast' part." She stated.

"I'm the 'burn' part." Yang laughed.

"As soon as I get the dust, the faunus will lead me to the goal…" Weiss stated.

"I wonder who's the faunus and the dust?" Blake asked sarcastically as she and Weiss smiled.

"Shit's about to get real." Yang said before the doors opened. As soon as they could make it out, the girls quickly, but without making a scene, made their way to the airship that Weiss had called from home.

"Welcome aboard, Snowflake." Klein stated with a smile as each of the girls boarded the ship. The left side of the ship had a series of four booths, much like you would see at a restaurant. The right side consisted of two larger TVs; one was for calls and general communication and the second was for entertainment.

"Klein!" Weiss said as she embraced him in a hug from behind as he was piloting the ship. The doors to the airship closed and the engines began to rev up as they ascended into the air. "Very nice choice with the stealth ship." She said.

"Only the best for Miss Schnee's secret mission!" Klein stated as the ship began to cloak itself as it blended into the night sky.

"I was wondering why it said 'Sanford Meat Deliveries' on the side of the airship." Blake said.

"I have the ship repainted every month in the event Miss Schnee would want to sneak out like she does at home. That way, no one will suspect a thing." Klein explained.

"Klein is the best. And before I forget…Klein, this is Yang, Blake, and Ruby." Weiss said as she pointed to each of the ladies as she said their name. "Everyone, this is Klein; he's a butler a the Schnee manor." Weiss said as she introduced him to her team.

"A pleasure to meet you all." Klein said as he waved from his pilot's seat. "And you were right, Snowflake, she is a beautiful young woman just like you said in your messages." He said as he smiled toward Ruby.

"Klein!" Weiss pouted in embarrassment to which he began to laugh. When Weiss opened her eyes she saw that Ruby's face was just as red as her own probably was.

"You're a butler? You two seem closer than that." Blake stated.

"He's probably the only person who kept me sane throughout my life at my house." Weiss stated.

"Her father, Jacques Schnee, might be an amazing business man and entrepreneur…but, not a very good person. I just want to see his children be as successful, but with a bit more compassion. Unfortunately, her brother and sister never quite took a liking to my message." Klein explained.

"That's impressive…" Yang said.

"I agree…who knows what her father would do if he found you 'corrupting' his children." Blake joked.

"Oh, I'm sure he would have my head…in the most literal sense…" Klein stated. "But! Enough of that…where are we headed to Snowflake?" he asked.

"Yang?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, I got it." Yang stated as she made her way to Klein and plugged her scroll into the system.

"That's wonderful, you have the coordinates! We should be there within the hour. Snowflake, I'm well aware that this time is a bit different from your escapades back home…should I expect any resistance?" Klein asked.

"Most definitely. Keep us cloaked and get us as close as you safely can." Weiss stated.

"Safety?! Miss Schnee, surely you jest. I might be but an old butler, but in my youth, I piloted airships for the Atlesian Navy! I'll get you there, and if you need any undesirables taken care of, you just give me a call!" Klein stated with determination.

Weiss giggled, "Okay, thank you Klein!" she said.

"Aight. So, where's my boys at?" Yang said as she turned to Klein.

"Ah, your weapons and supplies are under the first booth." Klein said. Ruby looked under the table and saw four duffle bags as well as four medium sized pouches filled with food, water, communication tools and portable batteries for their scrolls, and a few other supplies. The duffle bags were filled with each of their weapons and any ammunition they could need.

"Wow! You brought a lot!" Ruby said as she pulled out Crescent Rose and saw all the ammo and cleaning supplies in the bag.

"Indeed. I apologize if I brought too much as I was unsure about the type of mission that the four of you would be partaking in. If I may ask…what will you be doing?" Klein asked.

"Firstly…what we're doing is not sanctioned. So we appreciate the all the supplies since a resupply from Beacon is probably out of the question. And, to answer your question, our team administrator requested our assistance at a White Fang outpost." Weiss stated.

"So, we're dealing with the White Fang then? I'd like to avoid as much death as possible in that case…" Klein stated in a sad tone.

"I'm liking him more and more by the minute." Blake said.

"The White Fang is like a dangerous drug. The people who own the whole thing hype it up, but, when you're hooked on it, they don't care if it kills you. I've lost many friends to the addictive melody of the White Fang, by means of both death or just being brainwashed into thinking I'm out to hurt them." Klein stated with regret in his voice.

"Unfortunately, there's a new threat your friends have to worry about." Ruby said.

"How do you mean?" Klein asked.

"I don't think Ozpin wants us telling people…but, put simply, they're being controlled." Weiss stated.

"Ugh. The brazen audacity of such a wretch to do something like that!" Klein yelled.

"Don't you worry, bro…we'll get this taken care of." Yang stated.

"Of that, I have no doubt. Weiss speaks quite highly of all of you. So I'm expecting everyone to be fine." Klein said with a smile on his face. "Now, by my calculations, we should be arriving at these coordinates in about thirty minutes." He said.

"Those coordinates are the very center of the compound, so you won't be able to get that close without being shot down." Yang said.

"I see. Then expect for me to drop you off in under thirty…I'll keep an eye out or any good location to sit her down once we start getting close to the area." Klein explained.

"I think we should take this time to get ourselves ready." Blake said as she pulled out her aptly-named 'Intruder' outfit and made her way to the closest bathroom.

"Ohhh…we get to use our hunting clothes!" Ruby said as she gathered the components of her 'Slayer' outfit and ran to the second bathroom. Since both of the bathrooms were occupied, Yang and Weiss pulled out their 'Hunter' and 'SnowPea' outfits respectively.

"Klein, how are things at home?" Weiss asked.

"Different…" Klein said after a few seconds of silent thinking. "Your father has been acting quite strange since he discovered some new secret." He explained.

"What secret?" Weiss asked.

"Don't tell anyone, but…" Klein said as he jokingly motioned as though he was looking around for eavesdroppers. "Your father, the important figure that he is, managed to persuade the Atlesian Government to let him listen in on meetings between the headmaster, leaders, and the Knight-General. I'm not sure what the purpose of the meetings were, however." He stated.

"We do. We've been a part of some of those meetings." Yang said.

"Truthfully?" Klein asked.

"Yes. We have." Weiss stated as Blake and Ruby returned from changing clothes.

"Then this might make more sense to you than me. Apparently, before yourself and Miss Rose entered the submarine, the Knight-General managed to gather a significant portion of information from the White Fang and sent it to everyone in the meeting as well as the Knights of the world. When Knight-General Lionel announced his use of the Rite of Conscription, your father had to know what he had found that frightened him so. Jacques obtained a copy of the information and has remained in his office for the past week." Klein explained.

"Has he left for food? Or to use the bathroom, even?" Yang asked.

"He has a private washroom in his office and we've only seen his face when he requests food from us." Klein explained. "And…he reeks of alcohol." He finished.

"He's drinking?" Weiss asked in shock.

"Don't most dads do that? My dad and uncle do it A LOT." Yang said putting emphasis on the final words.

"My father is a wine enthusiast at best; he much prefers 'juice cleansing' as he calls it. But for him to literally smell of alcohol, he has to be drinking quite a bit and that is completely unlike him." Weiss stated.

"Would you happen to know what, specifically, has him so down? What did he read that put him in this state?" Blake asked.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that. He took the papers into his office with him." Klein said.

"It's cool, Klein. We're going to make sure we fix everything. We'll have your boss back to nagging and neglecting his employees in no time!" Yang joked as she gathered her clothes and walked to the bathroom.

"That is, unfortunately, something I can't argue with." Weiss stated as she picked her folded clothes up and turned to the bathroom as well.

"I'm so proud of you, Snowflake." Klein said.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked.

"I was worried you'd have trouble making friends at Beacon, but I see that even I have begun to underestimate your prowess. You truly are remarkable. The day you take over the Schnee Dust Company will be the day the world finally begins to change for the better." Klein said with a smile.

"I owe all of it to you, Klein." Weiss said in an embarrassed tone.

"Nonsense! I helped, but you achieved!" Klein stated.

"Thank you." Weiss said as she made her way to the bathroom.

"About how much longer do you think?" Blake asked as she began to place her ammo and medical kit in her outfit's pouches before placing the supplies kit on her belt. She loaded Gambol and placed it back in Shroud before sheathing the whole weapon on her back.

"Well, we hit a wind draft flowing in the same direction that we're going, plus the distance we've already covered…maybe about fifteen more minutes until we hit close to the coordinates. I'd say be ready in ten." Klein said.

"Roger that!" Ruby said with a salute. She also began readying her supplies and ammo in various locations on her outfit and loading Crescent Rose.

Weiss returned from the bathroom to which Ruby handed her Myrtenaster. "Thank you, Ruby." Weiss stated as she picked up her dust canisters and began loading them into the revolving chamber of her rapier. Following suit, she began to load her supplies onto her outfit as she went through a mental checklist of everything she needs.

"You little girls ready to whoop some ass!?" Yang said as she exited the bathroom.

"I feel like you're going to take on that responsibility well enough for all four of us." Weiss stated jokingly.

"Someone's got to do it. And if you princesses don't wanna break a nail, then there's only one person for the job." Yang said as she placed her gauntlets on her wrists and loaded them. "Fire in the left, Pulse in the right!" she said.

"Wow…I can already see the watch towers in the distance. This is a much larger outpost than I anticipated…get ready, I'm going to stop and begin looking for a place to land." Klein said.

"I'm almost good to go." Yang said as she gathered all of the supplies she needed and placed them in various locations on her outfit.

"I see a good landing spot over there." Blake said as she pointed to a clearing close to the cliff.

"I see it. You'll have a good hike before you get to the first watch tower." Klein said.

"Don't you worry about us…" Yang said.

"Okay then, get ready to jump out. I'll take us close to the ground, but I'll remain hovering so the engines won't cause to much wind." Klein said as he opened the door to the airship. "And don't worry, they won't be able to see you until you're at least five feet away from the airship…that's when the cloaking no longer affects you." He finished.

Team RWBY gathered around the door and checked all of their equipment one final time. "Is everyone ready?" Weiss asked.

"Damn straight." Yang said as she punched her right fist into her left hand.

"For this, always." Blake said.

Yang and Blake were both crouched down in front of Weiss and Ruby, to which the young leader took advantage of. She quickly placed a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek and shooting her a smile. "So long as you're there, I can do anything." She whispered.

Weiss smiled until she heard Klein give the signal from behind them. "Remember, I'll be around if you need me. Jump!" he yelled.

"Let's go!" Ruby yelled as each of them jumped out.


	32. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

* * *

There was almost no noise as each of the girls hit the ground in their own fashion. Yang, being the tank of the group, didn't even bother trying to soften her landing as she tucked and rolled as soon as her body made it to the ground. Blake latched Gambol onto a nearby branch and used it to swing to the ground. Once both Blake and Yang were on the ground, they darted through the woods heading for the nearest tower. Ruby and Weiss, who had jumped slightly after their other two team members, knew that they should take the high ground to cover them. Ruby hooked her scythe onto a nearby branch and swung around it two whole times before allowing her blade to slip off of the branch and for her to land on another branch beneath it. Weiss created a glyph almost immediately after she jumped from the ship on which she rode down to one of the branches in the trees. They, too, began their journey toward the closest tower after they were sure the other was safely out of the ship with them.

"Team RWBY, check in." Ruby said after placing the earpiece onto her ear.

"Weiss checked in." Weiss stated over the scroll from her ear piece.

"Blake, here." Blake stated immediately after.

"Kickass, ready and waiting." Yang said boisterously through the scroll.

"You'd better not be that loud after we enter the base." Weiss scolded.

"Duh. At least until someone sees me…then anything I do is their fault." Yang said sarcastically.

"Can't argue with that logic." Blake joked.

"We're less than fifty meters out. Scout the area and report back." Ruby said.

Blake took the time examine the state of the tower. " _It's pretty obvious that they're being controlled by the way they move…but this place looks like it's on lockdown. How are these guys able to make this place look impenetrable?_ " she thought as she watched the almost zombie-like movement of the guards.

"This place looks way different from the last time." Yang said.

"How so?" Weiss asked.

"This place has been set up for an assault. It's like they're expecting an invasion. But they look like they're moving so slowly. It looks like everyone here is sick." Yang described.

"The power of mind control can be a scary one. If this monster is as strong as Lionel said, then he can probably make each of these people here literally work themselves to death. They might be slow, but constant improvements to the base non-stop – no food or rest – can happen pretty fast when there are enough people." Weiss explained.

"What happens when they do finally work themselves to death?" Yang asked.

"Then, as long as that monster has enough power, he will force the corpse to keep moving until it decays." Weiss answered grimly.

"That's fucked up…" Yang said.

"I the only way we're going to get in here is to in from the side. We need to find a bridge that has the least amount of guards." Blake stated.

"I know how." Ruby said as she watched a new guard emerge from the tower, grab the body of a former guard and throw it over the bridge. "It looks like when they do decompose enough, the body will simply stop moving, no matter how much power the monster has. Then a new guard has to come out to take the old one's place." Ruby explained.

"Sooo…we wait for them to all just die off? Isn't that a bad plan on his part? Why is he just letting them die and then replacing them over and over again? They'll all be dead in a week's time." Yang stated.

"One week from now and that thing will probably be stronger than the entire White Fang army. It doesn't care." Blake said to Yang. "So, Ruby, how does that help us get in?" She asked the leader after she explained it to Yang.

"If we can kill all, or most, of the guards on one of the bridges, but make it look like they collapsed from decaying, then we can use the opportunity to sneak in while a new guard makes their way outside. I doubt they're lined up inside waiting for one of the guards to die." Ruby explained.

"Good idea." Weiss said as she began making her way to her teammate.

"Everyone, get to my position." Ruby said.

"Already on it." Yang said.

"I'm right behind her." Blake stated.

"Weiss, do you have any glyphs you could use for this sneak attack?" Ruby asked.

"I do. I can activate a small Glyph under the bridge so fire very small, but compact bursts of energy though the bridge into their bodies. It's too fast and small to be seen or heard until it hits you." Weiss explained before she arrived next to her leader's side.

Weiss had Myrtenaster pointed behind her and toward the ground in her left hand as she held her right hand forward. The white vial on her blade lit up causing her right palm to light up with a small glyph on the back of her hand. She created four glyphs under the bridge that were nearly impossible to see unless you were looking directly at them. Blake and Yang soon landed behind them and waited for Weiss to make her move.

"Give me a moment to aim the glyphs at each of them." Weiss said as she slowly moved her right hand, presumable to tilt the glyphs slightly.

"It's cool, do your thing." Yang said as she leaned in next to Ruby. "Rubes. What's the plan after we get inside? We heading for the smart Grimm to try and kill it or are we searching for Lion?" She asked as she continued to watch Weiss work.

"I want to try and kill that monster, but I think it would be smarter to head for the Knight-General first." Ruby stated.

"Better to be safe than be sorry. Beside, Lionel knows more about this think than any of us do." Blake stated.

"You're right…I just don't want us to wait for too long and let this Grimm get stronger than any of us can handle." Yang commented.

"I understand. But the time it takes us to find Lionel shouldn't give it much time to gain power. Then, when we have Lionel, we can launch an even bigger attack." Blake explained.

"True. You're right." Yang said with a sigh.

"C'mon. You'll have your chance." Blake said as she placed a hand on her partner's shoulder.

"I'm ready." Weiss said.

"Do it." Ruby stated to which Weiss flipped her hand to have the palm facing upward. Within just a few seconds, all four of the guards on the bridge began to fall.

"What did you do?" Yang asked in amazement.

"I sent a small surge of energy to their hearts, causing them to either burst on contact or continue to beat faster until it induces a heart attack." Weiss explained as they all watched the final guard try to keep himself held up to no avail.

"You're scary, you know that?" Yang stated jokingly as she jumped onto the bridge and ran for the tower.

"Yes, I do." Weiss said as she followed behind Blake who jumped second. Ruby followed close behind the rest of her team, covering their rear flank.

"Go now." Yang said as she silently jogged inside the tower after the two guards on the inside both looked out at the forest. Each of her teammates took no time following her lead down the staircase, Weiss using her glyphs to soften the step of each of her teammates.

"Do you remember where you're going?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, it'll just take a bit of hiking." Yang said sarcastically. Once they reached the bottom level of the tower, which was underground, they each waited for Yang's next instruction. They stopped at a large, bolted, metal door. "Yeah…I thought so." she said as she melted the locked enough to jimmy them off, opened the door, and looked to her left and right.

"What is it?" Weiss asked.

"We'll have to take one of these hallways to get to the main supply line. Then we take that hallway to the service elevator. Just know that there is a shitload of turrets in those halls and they're probably going to be on." Yang stated.

"Is that the only way in?" Ruby asked.

No, but the other way is way more obvious and probably on the highest alert right now." Yang stated.

"What makes you say that?" Blake asked as Yang closed the door and walked back to her team.

"Because the other way the route that the White Fang obtain their food and other stuff. But I'm assuming this Grimm hasn't bother placing an order for any of his soldiers." Yang said.

"But why would that make it the most guarded?" Ruby asked.

"Because it's the only place large enough for mechs and vehicle to get through. Basically, it's the only opening big enough to allow the possibility of an invasion. Since this thing isn't going to use the entrance for supplies, it's just going to throw a ton of guards out there." Yang explained.

"I suppose you're right. But right now, everyone needs to get away from the door." Blake said to which the girls did not hesitate to move up the stairs and hide in the lockers and bathroom stalls. Sure enough, the door opened followed by four guards as they made their way to the stairs and began climbing them.

"Wow, it didn't take them very long at all to replace those other four." Yang said.

"Indeed. Let's head back down." Weiss stated as they each began to head back down the stairs.

"So, one of these hallways should take us to the main supply line?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Yang said as she opened the door to take a quick look through both of the hallways.

"We should take the left. I hear less commotion that way." Blake stated.

"Okay, to the left. Everyone, move." Ruby said before they ran through the door toward the supply line.

"That's it ahead." Yang said.

They each stopped in the small service hallway right before they exited to the supply line. "The turrets are active up ahead." Blake stated.

"What are we going to do now?" Ruby said.

"Seeing as how there was only one reasonable path to take, no one can blame us for the more 'compromised' route of infiltration." Yang said smugly before jumping into the supply hallway and firing her Ember Celica. One of the turrets in front of her blew up, but one loaded its' guns and began to open fire on Yang.

"You dunce! Get over here!" Weiss yelled as the bullets ate away at the glyph she placed in front of Yang. The brawler just made it back to the rest of her team before Weiss's glyph could take no more.

"What was that? Did they destroy your glyph?" Ruby asked in shock.

"Yes. The turrets have dust infused bullets, with electron–ionized bullet casings. It will tear through semblances and auras." Weiss yelled.

"What should we do?" Blake yelled.

"Hold on!" Ruby said as Weiss activated her semblance, creating a white glyph on Ruby's forehead. The silver in Ruby's eyes began to glow as a second glyph appeared beneath the team, lifted them up, and began to move just as fast as Ruby.

"What is this?" Blake asked as they flew down the hallway blocking stray bullets with their weapons.

"I can strengthen the semblance of most people by combining some of the purple dust into the white glyphs. I can even get some interesting results from mixing them." Weiss stated.

"So Ruby is pushing this glyph right now?" Yang asked.

"Yes, with her aura." Weiss yelled.

"Guys, the turrets are beginning to compensate for my speed, they're shots are becoming more accurate." Ruby stated.

"I got this." Yang said as she pulled the bandolier of slugs off of each of her gauntlets and replaced them with an orange slug that had a yellow dust primer. She cocked her weapons and began to take aim at some of the turrets ahead of them. She began to fire Ember Celica but was missing most of her shots due to the speed. Each shot fired exploded in an electrical flame as the sparks of the electricity began to jump out looking for a conductor.

"You're not even hitting them." Blake said in a confused manner when the turrets slowed their firing.

"I know. The electricity in them fries their circuits momentarily. Definitely long enough for us to get passed." Yang explained as the glyph came to an abrupt stop and disappears. They each landed onto the ground staring at four different White Fang lieutenants. Two women and two men, but they all looked like they still had in control of their minds.

"They're not in control. This Grimm is funneling his power into their bodies to give them more power while controlling." Weiss yelled as she saw their eyes glow a bright purple.

"This electricity only lasts about three more seconds on these turrets and I've got eight of them in view." Yang stated.

"Yang, focus on the turrets! Weiss and Blake, attack the lieutenants. I'll cover both sides." Ruby yelled as Yang jumped into the air and fired at all the turrets around them again.

"Alright, let me know if you need to tag out!" Yang yelled as she began to use what little time she had between stunnings to do damage to the turrets.

Weiss and Blake began to use their signature 'checkmate' style of combat to keep the White Fang lieutenants away. Ruby began to assist Yang every chance she could before checking in on Weiss and Blake and assisting them with a few rounds.

"We're going to need to switch out or else they'll just wear us down." Yang yelled as she continued to attack the turrets.

"Guys! Over here!" Blake yelled as she pointed passed everything to an unknown Grimm at the end of the hall.

"No, don't believe it! Your eyes are purple, its' trying to get in your mind again!" Weiss yelled as she kept her own purple dust active to combat the invading purple dust.

"I've told you before! This will not end the same." A growling voice echoed out, sending a burst of energy to all of the purple dust.

"Oh, shit…" Yang whispered as her head began to ache painfully.


	33. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

* * *

Time seemed to slow down as each of the girls saw the shadowy figure in the distance. It didn't move, but rather, seemed to spectate the ensuing battle. "Rubes?!" Yang yelled, still holding her head from the pain.

"Weiss, are you sure?!" Ruby asked through the noise of battle.

"Yes! I'm not affected by the dust and I can't see anything! Don't believe anything it says or does!" Weiss replied.

"You heard her! Our plan stays the same!" Ruby said to everyone.

"Fuck! You better know what you're doing Ice Queen!" Yang said.

"Less talk, Yang. Vent your anger in other ways." Blake stated.

"Yeah, Yeah. I got it covered…don't worry your pretty little head." Yang stated as she leaped into the air and swung her fist back down to the ground, generating a wave of fire through the chaos of battle. Like a well-oiled machine, each of Yang teammates jumped into the air to avoid the flames in perfect sync.

"Yang, Weiss, you ready?" Ruby asked as both of them gave an affirmative nod.

"Kitty, keep them off us for just a second!" Yang yelled as Ruby reloaded her rifle with her high-combustion rounds. Yang fired one more quick flurry of lightning slugs at the remaining six turrets, temporarily frying their circuits. She jumped away and took Weiss' position in battling the White Fang, to which Blake and Yang had no issue syncing up. Weiss took the moment to freeze the ionizing chamber of the turrets while they were in a moment of stasis. Ruby aimed her rifle and fired right at the chamber, shattering it upon impact. The rounds exploded on impact with the force of a hand grenade. Within a matter of about ten seconds, the remaining turrets had been destroyed.

Without even hesitating, Weiss and Ruby were focusing on the White Fang immediately, who were proving to be a much greater challenge, but slightly more manageable without the turrets in their way. "You wretched children will have no place within my kingdom." The voice growled.

"Fuck you!" Yang yelled while simultaneously firing a slug at the shadowy figure, with no effect.

"Yang, it's not real." Blake stated.

"I know. I'm just asserting my dominance." Yang replied with a laugh.

The attacks seemed to have no effect on the White Fang as they continued to fight in spite of the damage they were taking. "Mind control is a truly horrid thing." Blake said.

"I agree. This isn't the way it should be." Weiss said.

"I'd hate to say it, but we need to just finish them in one blow." Yang said as she and her teammates stepped back from the White Fang. Both sides had paused for a moment to breathe.

"You say that like it's easy." Weiss said.

Yang looked over to her team for a snide remark but was surprised by what she saw. Ruby had the fewest injuries from being away from the fighting the most, but still had wounds from the blades the White Fang were using. Cuts and slashes, most of them quite deep, could be seen across her body. Weiss looked the worst, though she didn't have the most injuries. Her white uniform simply made the blood much more vibrant on her. Nevertheless, she still sported many deep injuries from their fighting. Blake was by far the worst of the group having not only bruises and slashes but a few stab wounds and a gunshot wound, from the turrets, as well. Yang looked at herself to see just a few wounds seeing as how she had been dealing with the turrets for a longer period of time. All things considered, they have been in worse shape and were still capable of fighting.

"Damn; I don't know about you guys, but the midst of fighting makes me forget all about getting hurt." Yang joked.

"For a brute like yourself, that's not very surprising." Weiss stated sarcastically.

"That's enough children." Blake said smugly.

"So, how do you propose that we end this Yang?" Weiss asked.

"We hit them…really, really hard." Yang said.

"So, the same way you always fight?" Ruby asked jokingly.

"Yes. But if we all do it, it'll be go by even faster." Yang said.

A loud growl echoed throughout the hall followed by the White Fang soldiers beginning their next round of attacks. "Enough of your meaningless talk." It yelled.

Yang jumped into the air to dodge an attack while also throwing a single bandolier of pulse slugs into the air. She emptied her Ember Celica and perfectly timed her gauntlet coming into contact with the pulse slugs to reload her weapon. When she finally landed on the ground, she swung her fist into one of the White Fang lieutenant's back. Just like her many other battles with the White Fang, his torso seemed to merely turn into a gory mess as his body exploded into many pieces.

"Who's next?!" Yang yelled as she turned around and faced her enemies with blood-red eyes.

Seemingly unfazed by Yang's intimidation, the remaining White Fang attacked without remorse. "This is ridiculous. They're so influenced that their emotions are even cut off?" Weiss wondered.

"It looks that way. Regardless, we have to move forward." Ruby stated as she began to fire Crescent Rose.

Weiss sent a burst of ice into the three remaining enemies, hitting no one, but creating a film of ice on top of the ground. Blake had already thrown Gambol to Yang, who caught it, and ran the ribbon underneath the lieutenants' feet, to which only one fell over. Ruby took her chance and fired, annihilating the woman's head upon impact and sending the two remaining flying back.

"Oops…I forgot I still have the high-combustion rounds in." Ruby said innocently.

Both Weiss and Blake jumped into the air with their respective blades and landed on top of each of the remaining White Fang members. With their blades securely in the middle of their enemies' chests, they turned to see the shadowy figure had vanished.

"That's right! You better run!" Yang yelled as her eyes returned to their normal lilac color. "…bitch…" she whispered under her breath.

"Yang, we need to keep moving." Blake said as Weiss activated another glyph. They each jumped onto the glyph and, just like before, Ruby took control to fly them down the rest of the hall, which was admittedly not very far. Just as before, Yang made sure to take care of the last few turrets with her lightning slugs before they reached the end of the hallway.

"Okay, hurry through the door." Ruby yelled as they each jumped off the glyph and ran through the open door.

"Any reason why that was open? They know we're here, so I don't think it should have been that easy." Yang stated as they waited on the elevator floor. Before any of them could begin to assess their surroundings on the elevator, it began to glide down slowly. "So...does anyone else think that they're just letting us in?" Yang asked.

"Yes." Weiss said.

"Form up, everyone." Ruby said before each of them surrounded the young leader with their backs facing her as Ruby loaded her rifle and placed it at the ready. The elevator continued its slow descent into the depths until they could eventually see the cargo bay appearing before them. Yang saw all of the White Fang working as though nothing was going on, they didn't even acknowledge the girl's existence.

"What's going on?" Yang asked as she walked over to exit the elevator.

"Yang stop!" Blake said to which Yang immediately stopped her advance. "There's a shield generator." She continued. Weiss let out a small burst of ice dust into the air which turned into vapor right as it made contact with the shield.

"So, what now?" Yang asked.

"We need to go down farther. I can just barely hear someone breathing below us…" Blake stated as she concentrated on the sound.

"Blake, you wouldn't happen to be familiar with the White Fang software, would you?" Weiss asked as she glanced to the control panel.

"I could give it a–" Blake was cut off by a loud clang of metal. Everyone looked to Yang who had hit the control panel as hard as she could, destroying it in the process.

"Yang, what are you–" Weiss was also cut off by the sound of the elevator beginning to move once again. "Luck." She said as she crossed her arms.

The elevator didn't move quite as far this time around, as it came to a stop a mere three minutes after it began to move again. There was only one door they could go through; a rusty iron door that looked like the entrance to a dungeon.

"That's not creepy at all." Yang said sarcastically.

"Well, it's not like we have another choice to pick from." Ruby said as she opened the door. It simply opened to a long stone hallway with the occasional flickering light.

"Ladies first." Yang said as she mockingly bowed to which Weiss and Blake rolled their eyes.

After reaching the end of the hall, they saw a series of small jail cells, most of which were empty. Only one was occupied; inside, there was an old man who looked to be sleeping. "They kidnap old dudes now? What the hell?" Yang said in annoyance as she punched the lock on the door, waking the old man up in the process.

"Wha – you girls…what's…" he trailed off as she looked at his body, seemingly checking for injuries.

"Don't worry, sir, we'll get you out of here." Ruby said. "My name is Ruby, it's nice to meet you." She continued as she held her hand out to shake his.

The old man stood up slowly, almost like he was thinking carefully about what he should do, before extending his hand. "Clark." The old man said I response. He was a taller man and looked as though his muscles were pretty well built, but the age had caused his wrinkled and loose skin to hide it. In spite of his physique, his was clearly in no shape to do much physical activity thought they couldn't tell if that was because of his age or because of the circumstances he is in.

"Glad to meet you, Clark. I'm Yang." Yang said as she lightly slapped him on the back.

"Blake." Blake said with a smile.

"I am Weiss Schnee." Weiss said with a curtsy.

"Well, I definitely know who you are." Clark said to Weiss with confidence. His attitude had done a one-eighty as he seemed less confused by this point.

"How did you end up here?" Ruby asked.

"I don't quite remember. All I can recall is that I was fighting against the temptation of purple dust." Clark said.

"Not many people can say that they're able to fight against it at all. How are you capable of doing so?" Weiss asked.

"Uhh…" Clark mumbled as he was trying to gather his thoughts. "Sorry…it's just taking me a moment to gather my thoughts." He stated.

"That's understandable…given the circumstances." Weiss replied.

"To answer your question…I used to hunt, so I am pretty well versed with most forms of dust." Clark said slowly.

"Makes sense…I kinda figured you used to hunt. You just give off that kinda vibe…" Yang stated.

"You wouldn't happen to be able to tell us how to get into the actual base, would you? The farthest we got was the cargo bay." Ruby stated.

"If we continue down the hall, it should take us out to the central structure. If you passed the cargo bay, however, they will be expecting you." Clark said.'

"I thought so. But we don't have a choice. The elevator is kind of…broken." Ruby said with a nervous laugh.

"Broken? It was you, right?" Clark asked Yang.

"Uhh…" Yang said.

"You just give off that kind of vibe…" Clark said mockingly to which Weiss and Blake laughed.

"Yeah, yeah…laugh all you want. We're still going to have to go through this the hard way." Yang said as she began to walk down the hall.

"Do you know if anyone else is down here?" Blake asked as Team RWBY and Clark began to follow Yang.

"As far as I know, it's just me. Aren't you able to tell?" Clark asked as he glanced at Blake's ribbon.

"Not many people can tell I'm a faunus. Even other hunter's…" Blake said.

"My body might be ragged and tattered, but my mind is still sharp." Clark stated as they turned the corner to see Yang and Ruby hiding next to the door frame of another rusty iron door.

"I can hear people out there." Yang said.

"Are you able to tell how many, Blake?" Weiss asked as she approached Ruby to hide next to her. Clark simply crouched to remain hidden from the only glass opening in the door.

"There's too many to distinguish the sounds…at least twenty. I can also hear the sound of machinery; they have weapons ready to fire." Blake whispered from behind Yang.

"See Yang…this is why we don't break things as a first resort." Weiss said sarcastically.

"We can keep blaming me if you want…or we can figure this shit out." Yang said.

"We're going to figure it out, but it is still your fault." Blake said with a chuckle.

"I've got an idea." Clark said as he held out his hand to Weiss and Blake.

"Can we at least find out what we're doing first?" Weiss asked as she took hold of his hand.

"I could give you four a lecture as to how my semblance works…or I can just show you." Clark said as he looked at Blake who slowly grabbed his hand. "Now each of you place your other hand on your teammates to that we're all connected." Clark said as Weiss placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder and Blake placed her hand on Yang's back.

"Miss Blake, where are the closest set of stairs that lead down?" Clark asked.

Blake closed her eyes and began to focus on her environment. "We would have to go outside, get passed the soldiers, go up a single floor on an elevator in the center of the room, turn left, and there should be a door that leads down. From the echo…I'd say at least twenty flights of stairs." Blake explained a moment later.

"How do you do that?" Yang asked.

"By listening to the sounds outside. Think of it as sonar." Blake said.

"I don't know what sonar is." Yang said.

"I know." Blake said as she looked to Clark. "Next?" She asked.

Clark began to take a few deep breaths in order to control his breathing. He was obviously putting a lot of effort into using his semblance as his breathing became deeper and, eventually, turned into an almost hyperventilating sound. In a matter of seconds, there was a blur of images that passed in the girls' fields of vision.

"What the hell?" Yang said as she fell to her knees, grabbing her head in pain. She looked around and saw that her teammates were in the same shape, confused and with a major headache.

"Bro, what'd you do?" Yang asked as she turned around to face Clark. To her surprise, he was on his hands and knees breathing as though he had just run a mile. Upon closer inspection, Yang noticed that there was a small puddle of blood on the ground right under his head. "You good?" Yang asked as she crouched down next to him.

Clark looked up to face her with a bit of blood running from his eyes and nose. "I'm good. I knew that this would happen; how are you ladies doing?" Clark asked as he got off his knees and sat down normally, trying to calm his aching head.

"Just a headache…and some confusion." Weiss said.

"A lot of confusion…where are we?" Ruby said as she looked around.

"The place I mentioned just a moment ago. This is the staircase that goes down about twenty levels." Blake said as she looked over the railing closest to them.

"So…did we just teleport? Why didn't you just say 'teleportation' when we asked you what you were doing?" Yang asked.

"Because it's not teleportation. I can explain…but I feel like you ladies have something important to be doing." Clark said. "Unless you just casually infiltrate enemy territory on a daily basis." He said sarcastically while standing up.

"Are you sure you're fine? It looks like you're hemorrhaged quite bad." Weiss said.

"This is nothing I haven't experienced before, though I appreciate the concern. That didn't just pick me up off the street and lock me up…they took something from me and I want it back." Clark said as he walked over to the top of the stairs while wiping his face with his shirt.

"Do you really think you're in any position to be fighting?" Weiss asked.

"…said the children to the professional hunter." Clark mocked with a smile to which Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Point taken." Weiss said.

Ruby stood up and made her way to the stairs also. "We're almost there, guys." Ruby said as she held up scroll to her teammates which showed the location of the Knight-General.

"Why wasn't that showing before?" Yang asked.

"This entire facility is probably meant to stop all signals from getting in or out unless it has permission. Lionel probably set the distress signal for when we made it inside." Blake stated.

"He's probably putting more faith in us than, literally, any other person would." Yang said with a giggle.

"Then you shouldn't let him down." Clark said as Ruby took another look at her scroll.

"He's at the bottom of these stairs, and down a few halls. Let's go." Ruby said confidently as everyone else stood up and began walking down the stairs.

"Finally! Shit's about to get real!" Yang said as she punched her fists together in excitement.


	34. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

* * *

"Stairs are seriously the spawn of evil." Yang whined as they continued down the stairs.

"You're going to say that now of all times? When we're about to attack something that might very well be the actual spawn of evil." Blake questioned as she covered their back flank.

"True. But at least I can punch this bastard…punching stairs just don't help at all." Yang joked.

"Would you rather go up twenty flights of stairs?" Blake asked.

"You saying that made me have a mild heart attack." Yang stated.

"Punching the 'spawn of evil' right? That sounds like a great movie idea." Clark commented as he walked down the stairs next to Ruby, in the front.

"Do you know who we're talking about?" Ruby asked.

"No. However, I can assume you're talking about whoever is doing this to the White Fang." Clark stated.

"That would be correct, unfortunately." Weiss said.

"Who is he?" Clark questioned as though he was making small-talk.

"Given the situation, you sound rather calm. Does this not surprise you?" Weiss asked.

"Am I supposed to panic?" Clark asked sarcastically.

"Okay, valid point. 'He' isn't a person, but rather a Grimm; an intelligent Grimm." Blake said.

"That's sounds like an oxymoron to me." Clark joked as they finished their fourteenth flight of stairs. Clark slowly sat down on the bottom step as he attempted to catch his breath.

"You good?" Yang asked when she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah…I'm just not as young as I used to be. Literally." Clark stated.

"Lionel's distress signal hasn't changed locations. It looks as though he is in a small room." Ruby explained as she took the moment to examine the layout that the distress signal was relaying.

"They probably have in in a cell." Yang said.

"Why would they put a cell so close to the central base of this entire outpost?" Weiss asked.

"I dunno. Maybe it's a special cell just for him since he's, you know, the Knight-General." Yang stated.

Blake and Ruby both looked to the heiress for a smart-aleck response. "That's…very possible…" Weiss trailed off with a sigh.

"See?! I know things!" Yang said as Clark began to laugh which slowly turned into a hacking cough.

"Does your semblance always take this much out of you?" Blake asked.

"As a young hunter, no…but trying to do it at my age, it does take a lot. To be perfectly honest, even I'm surprised how hard it is on me." Clark stated.

"We should all take a moment to rest, anyway. We never patched ourselves up after the turrets." Ruby said.

"Yes, please. I've got this one wound that simply will not clot." Weiss said as she raised the side of her shirt to reveal a bullet hole on the left side of her waist as well as a few cuts from her fight with the White Fang.

"Hold on, that looks pretty bad; it could have punctured your kidney. How do you feel?" Blake asked as she examined her wound.

"It looks worse than it actually is. I got that kidney removed in my childhood." Weiss explained.

"It doesn't have an exit hole, so it's probably still in there." Yang said as she pulled the largest of supply bags off of her waist and sat it on the ground.

"Unfortunately, it seems that way. Can someone help me cover the wound?" Weiss asked.

"I got you." Yang said as she pulled out a roll of gauze and unrolled about a foot of it. She folded the foot of gauze to make sure it was thick enough to absorb plenty of blood. Yang placed the folded gauze on the wound and began wrapping the rest of the gauze around Weiss' waist to keep it secured as well as covering the cuts. "How's that?" Yang asked.

"That will work. Thank you." Weiss said as she sat down to examine the rest of her wounds.

"We did really good. We hardly have any wounds from earlier." Ruby commented.

"I can see why; you all obviously work really well together. Did you get to pick your team?" Clark asked.

"No, our teams were actually randomized." Ruby said as she finished stitching a wound on Blake's shoulder blade.

"How so?" Clark asked.

"We basically had to fight our way through a forest to get a chess piece. The people who obtained the same type of piece were put into the same team." Yang said.

"You're Beacon students?" Clark asked.

"Heal yeah." Yang responded.

"Then it was definitely not randomized. Nothing Ozpin does is random." Clark said.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked as she began to clean a wound on Ruby's neck.

"Ozpin is very meticulous and tedious about training. If he is the one who set up this 'random' challenge, I can assure you that he wanted you to be put in the same team." Clark said. "And, from all that I've seen, he certainly wasn't wrong." He stated as he stood up.

"You ready?" Yang asked.

"I'm fine. Are you all ready?" Clark asked mockingly.

"You don't have to worry about us, we only stopped because of you." Weiss said, mocking him in reply.

"All done." Blake said as she cut off the excess stitches from the wound on Ruby's neck.

"Okay." Ruby said as she jumped up. "We're all good to go?" she asked.

"As soon as I have someone to punch." Yang said as she took point and began walking down the next flight of stairs.

"An intelligent Grimm, huh? What else do you know about it?" Clark asked as he followed behind Yang, next to Ruby.

"Not really. The Knight-General said that it was responsible for the Grimm War." Ruby said.

"Yes, it was called the Alpha." Clark said to which the girls turned their heads to look at him.

"I know you're getting on in years…but you don't look several centuries old." Weiss stated mockingly.

"Again with my age; you all hurt me so much." Clark said sarcastically as he pulled out his wallet to reveal the insignia of the Knights.

"You're a knight!" Ruby half-squealed.

"Indeed. It's actually against the rules for me to even say anything about it…that's how we've been able to prevent his resurrection for so long." Clark stated as they continued down the stairs.

"Will you get in trouble for telling us more? Because I really want to know more." Yang stated.

"Trust me…I don't think I would get in trouble." Clark laughed.

"Wait, are we interfering with a mission?" Weiss asked.

"What do you mean?" Clark said.

"Did you mean to be in here? In the cell, I mean?" Weiss clarified.

"No, no…Trust me, there was no intention of getting thrown in a cell. There's not even a mission." Clark explained.

"So they just came and picked you up off the street? Why? Were you high-ranking back in the day?" Yang asked.

"I'll have you know, I'm still high-ranking." Clark said.

"Then why are you here?" Blake asked.

"We can worry about that later…right now, I think you would all benefit from knowing a bit more about the Alpha." Clark said as they all reached the last flight of stairs.

"I wish we had more time to learn about it. The more information we have, then the more damage we can do." Weiss stated.

"I agree, however, given the situation, this will have to do. Put simply, the Alpha is the first Grimm, which I'm sure you know. What probably has not been said is how it retained its' intelligence. The Alpha, before it was corrupted, was born with an incredible semblance. It can forcefully infiltrate people's minds and 'copy' parts of it for its' own use." Clark explained.

"It can see your memories and intellect?" Weiss asked.

"Yes. At first it wasn't so bad, he used it for good or neutral purposes. But he kept wanting more and, with time and training, was eventually able to copy more advanced things like skills and talents. When he was corrupted, his power increased yet again and, as with all Grimm, he sought out negativity. At this point, the Alpha is capable of even copying semblances and auras if it has enough time in your head." Clark stated wearily as they each waited at the door.

"How long does it need to be in your head?" Ruby asked.

"During the Grimm War, he only needed a few hours of studying your mind, most of which it would do while you were asleep. You would wake up only thinking you had a bad dream." Clark said with a sigh.

"You said 'during the Grimm War'; has it changed at all?" Blake asked.

"Yes. With the invention of purple dust, his ability has only increased. I couldn't tell you exactly how long he was in my mind, but I assumed that his power wouldn't have grown all that much with a bit of dust…I was sorely mistaken. He knows my semblance now." Clark said with anger.

"You'll still haven't explained your semblance to us." Weiss said.

"That's because we're running a little low on time." Clark retorted.

"I agree. Blake, is there anyone outside of this door?" Ruby asked her teammate.

"Nothing more than a few patrols. The next one will pass by the door in about three minutes and we'll have about six minutes before the next one after that." Blake informed them.

"Then we need to know exactly where we're going." Ruby said as she pulled out her scroll. "As soon as we exit from this door, we take a right and head down the hall. We'll reach an intersection of halls and we'll take a left. We stay straight as we pass three more intersections, then we take another right. The next intersection we reach, after that, there will be a door to our left instead of a hallway. That's the door we're looking for.

"Okay. Right, left, straight, straight, straight, right, and then the door on our left at the next intersection?" Yang asked.

"Yes." Ruby said as she put her scroll back in her pocket.

"What happens after that?" Weiss asked.

"The Central Intelligence room will be at the end of that last hallway we'll be in. I guess, once we have Lionel, we assault the enemy and see where that gets us?" Ruby pondered.

"Regardless…" Blake whispered. "…those guards are passing us right now." She finished with a light whisper.

The ladies and gentleman were silent as they heard the footsteps pass the door they were hiding behind. "Okay, watch for other patrols." Ruby whispered as she opened the door.

They each stepped out into the hall to see what looked like the fire alarm going off, just without sound. "What's with the lights?" Yang asked.

"That alarm is to let people know that there are intruders. It's not like they forgot about us." Blake stated.

"All the more reason to hurry." Weiss said as she activated a mild glyph, sending a gust of wind straight ahead before hiding behind the corner of the intersection. She hid right before another pair of guards walked through the intersection to their left and looked in the direction that Weiss was hiding. She remained perfectly calm as the footsteps got closer until they ultimately took a left to head in the direction that Weiss had led them too. "Let's go." She said as she jogged to the left and remained straight.

"How did you know they were coming?" Blake asked.

"After working with you all long enough, you learn how to really read your teammates." Weiss stated to which Blake raised an eyebrow as they reached the first of three intersections that they would pass. "Whenever a noise startles you, your left ear twitches." She explained with a smirk.

Blake's ears slumped low on her head as though she was annoyed. "Don't worry kitty, it's cute." Yang said as she patted her partner's back.

"Let's keep going." Ruby said after making sure she that there were no more guards coming down any direction.

"We're almost there, guys." Ruby said as they each passed the second intersection. As they approached the final intersection, they each saw two guards come from the hall to their left and right in the upcoming intersection. "Hide." Ruby half whispered and half yelled.

Before anyone could react, they had each been tackled to the ground by Clark. "Clark, what the fu–" Yang was cut off by the familiar sensation of an aching head as images blurred through their fields of vision. Before they could make sense of the world, they were all falling over each other in an incredibly small, dark space.

"Dude, warn us…" Yang complained.

"They probably would have seen us if I hadn't done it…" Clark said in the darkness.

"I agree with Clark…but a warning would be nice…" Weiss stated.

"Where did you take us?" Ruby asked.

"The door we were trying to reach." Clark stated.

"What?!" Ruby asked in surprise as Weiss activated a small fire glyph in her hand to illuminate the area.

"We're in a freaking closet, Clark. I think you need some target practice with that semblance of yours…" Yang stated as she stood up.

"No…" Ruby said as she looked at her scroll. "This is…it." She said in confusion.

"What?! Where's Lion?" Yang asked as she looked at Ruby's scroll.

"Here." Blake said as she looked at the ground in the corner. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all looked over her shoulder to reveal Lionel's signature jacket on the ground.

"That's it? They just threw his jacket in here?" Weiss said as she dug the distress signal out of the pocket.

"Seriously?" Ruby pouted. "And the mission was going to so well, too…" she whined as she quickly began to mess with her scroll while in the process knocking over a box in the closet. "There has to be some way to look at where the beacon was first activated…or maybe we–" Ruby was cut off by a loud knocking on the door.

Clark and the girls were silent as they hoped that the knocking would go away. After a few seconds of silence, Team RWBY heard the unfortunately familiar sound of a gun being cocked before bullets began to fire through the door. "Cover!" Ruby yelled as each of the team members attempted to duck onto the ground, though they were unable due to the small space and the pure chaos of the situation. The light that Weiss had generated was gone as everyone panicked. They each ducked as low as they could, blocking as much as possible with their weapons in the darkness, simply waiting for that one final blow. Every so often, a screech could be heard from one of them as a bullet impaled their body, making the idea of 'waiting to die' all too real for the ladies.

After the bullets finally ceased their rampage, Ruby slowly opened her eyes. The holes from the bullets allowed small amounts of light into the room to which Ruby was able to make out a certain figure in the air. Ruby opened her mouth, to speak, but was cut off by a fiery explosion. In the moment, she managed to assure herself that the explosion was the end of the line, but, again, she reopened her eyes to see the room illuminated by light due to the absence of the door. Weiss was standing, barely, as she drew as much breath as her lungs would allow. Blood was running down her body, staining her beautiful white clothes, as she pulled Myrtenaster up, readying to strike anyone that entered her sight.

"What the hell happened?" Yang yelled in surprise. Ruby managed to take her eyes off Weiss to see both Yang and Blake guarding Clark's unconscious form with their bodies. They had significantly more wounds than before entering the room but were still capable of continuing.

"She created a glyph at the last second to shield us from the bullets…" Blake said as she stood up to glance outside of the room into the hall, but saw no one. "If they didn't know we were here before, they do now." She stated.

"What about the explosion?!" Ruby asked as Weiss fell to her knees with Myrtenaster still ready to strike.

"The glyph I made…I mixed red dust…at the end…I fired it…" Weiss said in between breaths.

"Hold on…" Ruby said as she took her partner's hand and began to focus her aura through her body.

"Clark, wake the fuck up!" Yang yelled before Blake fired her weapon into the hall.

"They're starting to show up to find out what happened." Blake stated in between firing her weapon into the hall.

Weiss' wounds slowly began to stop bleeding as Ruby clenched her teeth and concentrated. "Ruby…that's enough…I'll be fine." Weiss said as she let go of Ruby's hand to stand back up.

"Weiss!" Ruby protested.

"No. We need to hurry and finish the mission. I feel much better now, so there's no need to worry." Weiss stated in her normal tone, which calmed Ruby slightly. Weiss began to wrap her more serious wounds in gauze, to which Ruby began to assist her.

"What's the play?" Yang asked as she took the other side of the door next to Blake, guarding the hall.

"I think the Central Intelligence room is our next bet." Ruby stated as she finished wrapping Weiss' left arm.

"Then we need to keep moving." Weiss stated as she placed the supplies back in her pack.

"What about him?" Yang asked as she looked at Clark.

"Hold on." Ruby said as she placed her hand on his chest and, once again, began to focus her aura. Clark's eyes shot open as he began to hyperventilate.

"Damn…what'd you do?" Yang asked.

"I increased his heart rate and pushed adrenaline." Ruby explained. Another sudden explosion shook the room, forcing Yang to her stomach. "Yang!" Ruby yelled as Blake began to fire outside of the room once again.

"Son of a bitch!" Yang yelled as blood poured from her left shoulder and shoulder blade and dripped from her chest and arm. "What the hell happened that time?" she yelled again.

"It was an RPG." Blake said as Yang stood back up and began to peel her white and black 'Hunter' jacket off, leaving her in her boots, a skirt, and her sports bra.

"Yang…" Ruby said as she approached her.

"No. Save your power…I'll be fine." Yang said in annoyance.

"We have to move, now!" Blake said as her head darted outside of the closet.

Yang raised her eyebrow, "What's com–"

"Now!" Blake yelled as she ran out of the closet to cover her teammates. Ruby and Weiss ran out next as Blake covered them.

"C'mon, bro. We have to move." Yang said as she helped Clark to his feet.

"It's here!" Blake yelled as an Atlesian Paladin emerged from the corner down the hall.

"Are you fucking serious?!" Yang yelled as she and Clark exited the room.

Team RWBY and Clark managed to turn the corner right as the mini-gun began to fire through the hall. "Keep running!" Ruby yelled as they made seemingly random turns through the halls.

"Over here!" Blake yelled as she jumped into a door on her right. Everyone else followed close behind before Blake shut the door. A few seconds of silence passed before the Paladin could be heard passing the door that they had just entered.

"Don't they have state-of-the-art detection equipment? How did hiding work?" Weiss asked silently.

"This room had a sound-canceller." Blake said in a normal voice.

"Why?" Yang asked as she looked around to see a normal looking, small bedroom. "Actually, why is there a random bedroom in one of the main halls for the top terrorist organization's outpost?" Yang inquired.

"Yeah, I thought these rooms would be for things like the armory, medical bay, and other stuff." Ruby said.

"Yes, all of your need can be found in one of the rooms down here." Blake stated.

"Then why is this bedroom here? I thought the dorms were upstairs?" Yang pondered.

"They are…like I said. All of your needs can be fulfilled down here. This is a room for conjugal visits." Blake said with a straight face.

"Wow." Weiss said unsurprisingly.

"What's does conjugal mean?" Ruby asked.

"I'm in the same boat, Rubes. What is that?" Yang asked to which Blake whispered something into Yang's ear. The older sister seemed to forget all about her recent injury, as her faced turned red and she urged Ruby to think about the mission. "Ruby, we need to find Lion. What's the plan?" she asked quickly trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ruby shrugged her shoulders as she pulled out her scroll. "Okay. I've got a plan." She said as she sat on the ground and opened up a larger version of her map.


	35. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : YAY! Final exams are finally over. Now I can relax during the week, except for work, obviously. It's been a while since I've done an author's note, but I hope you're all enjoying the story and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it). The story is finally reaching its' climax and I'm so excited. Thirty-four chapters...that's thirty-four weeks in the making. I am stoked! And, as always, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

* * *

"So, do we have any idea where Lionel's at?" Weiss asked.

"Not really. I imagine the only way we can find out would be to get to the Central Intelligence Room." Blake stated.

"Do we even know where the Alpha is? Because if he's hiding, trying to gather his strength, then it would probably be in the most guarded place in the whole outpost." Weiss said.

"Which would be the Central Intelligence Room." Ruby finished.

"How do we get there from here?" Yang asked.

"We have a map of the area, but I'm more concerned about actually fighting." Ruby said.

"We can't just run away." Yang said.

"I'm not saying we run away…but we had planned on attacking with Lionel at our side. Now we don't know where he's at and we're all in pretty rough shape." Ruby said.

"I'm inclined to agree. What do you propose?" Weiss asked.

"How many Atlesian Paladins do you think they have here?" Ruby inquired as she looked at Blake.

"When I was in the White Fang, we didn't have any. The information that Lionel gathered when he was here last had a ledger of the inventory here." Blake said as she pulled out her scroll and opened the information that Lionel had sent everyone when he returned to Beacon. "It says that there aren't any here, but, at the time, they had an order for ten of them to be sent here. Why did you want to know?" Blake asked.

"Because they used Omni-dust as their fuel, right?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"That's true!" Weiss said as she caught onto Ruby's Plan.

"If we can find out where they keep the Omni-dust, then we can use it." Ruby said.

"If I can load that stuff into Ember Celica, I could do some real damage." Yang said.

"I have something that could help." Weiss said as she began to look through her supply pack. "Here." She said as she pulled out a small device and turned it on.

"Isn't that for measuring the purity of dust?" Blake asked.

"Yes; a DES or Dust Electron Scanner. But this is my personal one. This would cost upwards of 8,000 lien to purchase." Weiss stated.

"I don't follow; how will that help us?" Blake asked.

"Dust inherently gives off an electromagnetic pulse. The purer the dust is, the stronger the pulse it has. These devices measure dust by reading the magnetic signature that it emits. This one is so expensive because of how sensitive, and by extension, how accurate it is. Omni-dust lets off an incredibly strong pulse, so by simply having the device turned on, I can find out where the Omni-dust is when we get close to it." Weiss explained.

"That's great! How close do we have to get before it starts giving us a clue to its' location." Ruby asked.

"I've only ever tested this on my family's dust, which is quite pure. Of the few times I have had the opportunity to scan Omni-dust, I had to be within sixty feet of the source. Since, we don't know how pure the White Fang's dust is, and the fact that the signal will have to travel through walls, we will probably need to be within twenty to thirty feet of the source." Weiss stated.

"So do we have any idea where they might keep their Omni-dust?" Yang asked.

"Probably where they would keep their other fuel supplies. This side of the outpost is the West Wing, and from the map, it looks like it houses most of the supplies for their soldiers; food, water, weapons, armor, and medicine. I say we had to the East Wing…that's probably where the mechanical equipment is built, maintained, and repaired." Blake said.

"How do we get there then?" Yang asked.

"From the sonar that the distress signal was giving off, we got a pretty good layout of the West Wing, but the East Wing is almost completely in the dark. There are two ways to get there, but only one that would be reasonable to take. One of the doors is south of our location, but it also leads to the Central Intelligence Room, and it is in the same direction that we came from." Ruby stated.

"So that's a no-go." Yang said.

"Right, the other is North of us, basically on the other side of the outpost from where Central Intelligence Room is. If we could just walk there, undisturbed, it would probably only take about ten minutes, so it isn't that far…" Ruby said.

"But, we're going to meet some resistance. What do you think we should do? Waste an hour trying to sneak to the door or run out guns blazing?" Yang asked.

"Actually, I was thinking about something else." Ruby said as she turned her head to Clark.

He raised his eyebrow and sighed almost a second later. "I can try…but I don't know how much more I can do…" he said.

"What're you thinking, Rubes?" Yang asked.

"We can use his semblance to get there faster. You said it's not teleporting, but we seem to get from place to place pretty fast. Do you think you would be capable of getting us there or would it cause to much of a strain on your body?" Ruby asked.

"Under normal circumstances, I would be very worried about my health at this point. But, if we're able to get Omni-dust, I can use it to replenish my power. That was actually my goal the whole time…I need Omni-dust." Clark said.

"Why? I know you're a Knight, but how often do you go on hunts anymore?" Weiss asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you why I need it." Clark said to which Weiss stared at him.

"I figure at this point we've deep enough down the rabbit hole not to have secrets kept from us. Is this really necessary?" Weiss asked in annoyance.

Clark remained silent as he looked at the annoyed heiress. "Do you want my help or not?" he asked.

"I'm going to be perfectly honest, I don't trust you. Why were you captured by the White Fang? It wouldn't make any sense for them to come and kidnap you unless you were really important, so I don't think that's what happened. But, it also wouldn't make any sense for you to be on a mission out here on your own since all of the knights now know the situation, especially with the shape you're currently in." Weiss explained.

Clark only stared at her as she continued to question him.

"Furthermore, why do you need the Omni-dust? From my experience, the Knights seem to be able to get their hands on as much as they need. What could you even do with it? It would be a much better idea to let us get the Omni-dust, find Lionel, give most of it to him so he can attack the Alpha while we provide support. The only thing you've done is get captured, have your semblance stolen, and kept secrets from us. What game are you playing?" Weiss asked angrily.

Once again, Clark remained completely silent as he stared Weiss down. "Do you want my help or not?" he asked again, this time more sternly.

"Weiss, you've made a lot of good points, and I'm definitely on the same page as you…but if he's willing to help us get to the Omni-dust, we need to take it." Blake said.

Weiss looked at Blake momentarily before looking back at Clark. "Fine. But I expect answers when we return home." She stated.

"You'll probably get them before then." Clark said as he stood up and walked to Ruby. "May I see your scroll?" he asked.

"Sure." Ruby said as she handed him her scroll. He remained silent as he studied the layout of the building, calculating the turns and the distance. He handed her scroll back and walked to the door.

"Make sure you're all connected." He said as Ruby walked up to him from behind and placed her hand on hand on his back.

"C'mon guys." Ruby said as she looked behind her. Weiss sighed and walked up to Ruby and placed her hand on the young leader's shoulder. Blake followed behind Weiss, placing her hand on the heiress' shoulder.

"Getting real tired of the headaches that follow this shit." Yang said as she placed rested her elbow on Blake's shoulder. "Alright…we're all good to go." She said.

A sharp pain shot through the girl's heads as they seemed to flow through the hall at incredible speed. The distance was much greater this time around, so they each had to endure a headache for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Finally, they each fell to their knees in a large room that had medicine lined on the walls. There were stretchers and five beds in the room, but no one was present.

"That has to be one of the most annoying semblances to have in the world." Yang complained as she grabbed her head while remaining on the ground. she looked up to see her teammates in similar positions, waiting for the pain to subside. Clark was sitting against the wall with blood running down his face from his eyes and nose. "Are you sure you're okay?" Yang asked him.

"Yeah…I'm used to it." Clark said as he grabbed a roll of gauze from the counter and wiped his face with it.

"Where are we?" Ruby asked.

"At the last room before the East Wing. Though technically this room is connected to both wings." Clark said as he pointed to the other side of the room. "That door will take you back out to the hall, but we'll be in the East Wing then." He stated.

Ruby pulled out her scroll to examine where they were. The scrolls also emit a sonar wave, so where ever the scroll moved to, it would continue to generate a map of their current surroundings. "I see what you mean…the last door on the right leads into here but crosses over to the other wing so that people from both sides can get in here. That makes sense…this is a medical bay from the looks of it." Ruby said.

"It's rather annoying how abandoned this room is. People are dropping left and right outside from being worked to death, but the Alpha doesn't care one bit. I know I shouldn't feel bad for the White Fang, but…" Blake trailed off.

"No, you should feel bad for them; what the Alpha is doing should make you angry. The White Fang is a bad group, but most of the people who joined did it because they had no other option." Yang said.

"Indeed. And even if literally every person in the White Fang were terrible people, slavery is never the right punishment. I can't think of anyone who I hate enough to force them to work to death." Weiss stated as she pulled out her DES to see if they were yet close enough for a signal.

"Thank you. I appreciate the sentiment." Blake said with a sigh before finally standing up. "Any luck?" she asked Weiss who was looking at her scanner.

"No. We're not close enough yet." Weiss stated as she stood up as well.

"Blake, is there anyone outside? Or close by?" Ruby asked as she reloaded Crescent Rose.

"Not very close, but there are plenty of guards patrolling the halls…and I'm sure they're on high alert." Blake said as she made her way to the other side of the room to stand close to the door. She pulled out Gambol Shroud and checked to see if she needed to reload and, seeing that she was locked and loaded, readied herself for an attack that could come at any moment.

"Do you guys have anything you need to take care of before we keep moving?" Ruby asked as Weiss was replacing the dust in Myrtenaster.

"I'm good to go." Yang said as she examined Ember Celica.

"As am I. Do we intend to simply walk the halls until I get a reading?" Weiss asked as Ruby walked over to Blake to crack the door open.

"That's all we have to go on right now, so yeah. You're all ready?" Ruby asked as Yang and Weiss made their way to the rest of their team. Clark followed close behind as he was becoming slightly more debilitated with each use of his semblance.

"Are you sure you're okay, Clark?" Blake asked.

"I'm not going to just fall over out of nowhere…but that's about as 'okay' as I can get right now." Clark stated monotonously.

"Blake and I will take point. Yang and Weiss, cover our flank. Clark, stay in between the four of us." Ruby said as she slowly pushed the door open, allowing Yang and Blake into the hall to cover both sides.

"Clear." Blake said before Ruby, Weiss, and Clark entered the hall to get into the aforementioned formation.

"If the East Wing mirrors the West Wing, then we should head to the center hallway. That will give us the best chance to get a reading. We should pass four intersections, and on the fifth one, we take a right." Ruby said as they began to move forward.

"What's the plan if we get caught?" Yang said.

"Guns blazing." Blake said as they neared the first intersection. "There are guards heading this way from the right." She said as they each took cover behind the corner near the first intersection. The guards appeared a few seconds later but turned in the direction that the group was going. Ruby looked at Weiss and gave a hand signal for an attack.

Weiss nodded her head and summoned a blue glyph. Two projectiles fired simultaneously, both of which impaled the guards right in their backs. As they fell to the ground, Ruby used her semblance to rush to their side, catching them before any sound could be made. She made another hand gesture, signaling the rest of her team to catch up with her. "Put his body in the room." Ruby said as she picked up one of the bodies and carried it to the closest door; Yang followed close behind with the second body. Upon opening the door, they saw that it was a bathroom to which they hid both of the bodies in one of the stalls before reentering the hallway.

Blake suddenly ran to the next intersection as though she was startled by something. "What's wrong?" Yang asked as they each caught up to her.

"All of the guards they I can hear just suddenly broke their patrol routes and ran to the Eastern-most area of this Wing." Blake stated as she glanced around the corner to view a guard running parallel to them every so often.

"Do you have any idea why?" Weiss asked before an alarm began to sound throughout the entire base.

"What does that mean!?" Yang asked over the siren.

"I don't know! But we should take advantage of the chaos!" Blake said as she waited for the next few guards to pass. She signaled for them to begin moving to which they all darted down the hall.

The intercom made a raspy electric sound before a voice began to speak. "Lionel has escaped. Repeat: The prisoner had escaped! He is without power, shoot on sight!" the voice rang out.

"Fuck yeah! No one can keep him locked up!" Yang yelled as they kept running through the halls, passing the third intersection.

"What do they mean he is without power?" Ruby asked.

"I'm kind of worried about that, too. The fact that they even managed to capture him in the first place means that they found some way to overpower him." Weiss stated as they came upon the fourth intersection.

"Where do you think he would head to?" Blake asked.

"I would think he would want his stuff back before leaving." Clark stated.

"The White Fang keep their new weaponry in the mechanic's warehouse. Wherever they're keeping their Atlesian Paladins, they're keeping his gear there, too." Blake stated.

"So when we find the Omni-dust, we'll hopefully meet up with him?" Ruby asked.

"Correct." Blake said.

"Why are the guards running away from the entrance to this area? Do they have any holding cells down here?" Ruby asked as they neared the fifth intersection.

"No. They're probably running to where his gear is being kept!" Weiss said as she looked at her DES and noticed that there was no reading. She ran further down the hall and passed another intersection before finally receiving a small reading on her device. "It's over here!" Weiss said as the rest of her team caught up with her.

"We need to be careful. There are, at least, thirty guards coming up. They're defending something and are dug in deep." Blake said.

"They probably aren't even going to try to stop Lionel by themselves. They're staying together to have the best chance of killing him." Weiss said.

"From the sound of it, they are going to be in the hall in the intersection after the next one. Instead of having ten hallways like the other Wing, the last three halls are incorporated into one huge room used for housing their sensitive equipment." Blake explained as she ran up to the next intersection and saw no one. "Let's go!" she said as they each ran past it, finally making it to the final hallway.

Ruby took one look around the corner and barely managed to dodge a flurry of bullets. "It seems they could hear us coming, too." She said with a sigh.

"What now?" Yang asked.

"This." Clark said as he got in front of Ruby at the intersection. He held up Lionel's jacket and looked to Weiss. "Can you create a glyph to protect me from the bullets?" he asked.

"Yes. But what do you plan to do?" Weiss asked.

"Kill them all." Clark stated as he exhaled. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Weiss sighed and held up Myrtenaster to summon a glyph in front of Clark. He nodded before jumping into the middle of the hallway as bullets and a few RPG's devastated the walls ceiling, and floor upon contact with the glyph. He threw the jacket down the hall as far as he could and watched it land within a few feet from the soldiers. He ran to the other side of the hall before pulling a device out of his pocket.

"What was that?!" Weiss yelled in enraged confusion. "You had me make a glyph so you could –"

"TAKE COVER!" Clark yelled as he pressed a button on the device he pulled out while diving onto the ground. Within seconds, an explosion shook the ground; a bright blue flame exploded through the entire hall, only being stopped (barely) by Weiss' glyph. Some of the flames slipped past the circular barrier but was not an issue since the girls and Clark were taking cover behind the corners of the intersection. The sheer force of the explosion, however, was still enough to knock the girls onto the ground.

After the explosion finally passed, the girls lifted their heads to see Clark looking down the hall from on his stomach. "Bull's eye." He said with a laugh.

Ruby crawled over to glance down the hall and was awestruck by the sheer devastation she saw. The walls were decimated, revealing the rooms behind them. The ceiling had crumbled which showed the dirt and stone behind them, reminding her that she was deep underground at the moment. All of the rubble had collected onto the floor, which was also destroyed, but looked better than the walls and ceiling since gravity kept it in place. Though she was sure that the floor was just as unstable as the rest of the hall. "Oh my God…" Ruby said under her breath as she scanned across the hall.

Weiss, Yang, and Blake managed to walk over to Ruby, who had stood up and were examining the destruction as well. "Where did everyone go? Like I know their dead, but…where are the…pieces?" Yang asked in awe.

"Atomized." Weiss said before looking to Clark. "How did you do that?" she asked.

"First, what was that?" Blake asked.

"That was an Omni-dust explosion." Weiss stated.

"Did you destroy the Omni-dust in that room?!" Ruby yelled.

"No. I can tell the door is still intact." Blake said.

"Not to mention that the explosion was generated by Omni-dust. It didn't start out as a normal explosion. Where did you get the Omni-dust?" Weiss asked.

"Lionel's jacket is imbued with Omni-dust. It had a self-destruct detonator on it." Clark explained as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"I didn't even realize you took his jacket with you." Ruby said.

"Don't you think the time for questions should be later? Let's move." Clark said as he began walking down the hall.

"Don't you worry…there will be plenty of questions later." Weiss said under her breath as Team RWBY followed hi, down the devastated hall.

"The next order of business. How do we get through that door? Sorry to say…I'm not as strong as an Omni-dust explosion." Yang stated.

"Then I hope you're ready for another headache." Clark said with a grin.


	36. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry about having a short chapter. This week has been unnecessarily difficult. I made it through and will be back on schedule in the following weeks. Let me know what you think of the chapter and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

* * *

"Ugh…anything Weiss?" Blake muttered.

"That's putting it mildly…" Weiss responded as she held her head in pain.

"So, it is in here?" Yang asked while standing up.

"Most definitely. I don't even need the DES to tell you that much." Weiss said in amazement as she examined her surroundings.

"What's up?" Yang asked as she saw the large cargo boxes lined up in the warehouse.

Weiss walked up to one of the boxes and dug Myrtenaster's blade into the slight space between the lid and the box. Using her blade as leverage, she pulled downward with all of her weight. The lid seemed to pop off with a loud clank before the rest of her team walked over to examine its contents. "That's a lot of dust…" Yang said.

"It's all Omni-dust. I've never seen so much…" Weiss said is pure astonishment.

"Wait, this is all Omni-dust?! I thought it was really rare?!" Ruby said as she looked at all of the boxes, reading off its' contents. She quickly took the moments to load Omni-dust into her bullets. She managed to fill two whole magazines with Omni-dust rounds.

"It is! How did they get so much!?" Weiss asked in annoyance. She pulled her scroll out and began to take pictures as evidence.

"What're you doing?" Yang asked as she began shoving Omni-dust into one of the pouches she brought with her.

"There's no way everyone back home will believe us without proof. And they need to be fully aware of how dangerous the White Fang has become!" Weiss exclaimed while continuing to take pictures. "Clark, you damned fool!" Weiss yelled after finishing taking her pictures.

"You're still mad at him?" Blake asked as she loaded one magazine with Omni-dust rounds.

"What if that massive door hadn't been there?! That explosion would have ignited all of this Omni-dust and…and…" Weiss was in a pure rage even as her voice trailed off.

"I knew it was there." Clark said as he was filling small vials of liquid with the Omni-dust.

"Oh, it's really easy to say that after the fact; brilliant excuse." Weiss complained as she filled Myrtenaster's empty dust chamber with Omni-dust.

"Believe what you want. The point is: we're here. Right?" Clark asked with a smirk.

Weiss was livid at this point. "How can you be so calm? What if–"

"What if you're glyph didn't hold up when we were in the closet?" Clark asked.

Weiss scoffed. "What do you–"

"Don't think I didn't notice. You poured all of your remaining dust into that glyph and it was so spontaneous, that you didn't have time to throttle the explosion. Any part of that could have gone wrong and killed us all." Clark stated.

"But she saved us all." Ruby said.

"Exactly. When on a mission this important, the ends do justify the means. You four are amazing at fighting and working together, but you still have much to learn." Clark said as he finished filling each of his vials with Omni-dust. "Weiss. You are NOT perfect; that includes your fighting techniques and powers. Yang, you are not invincible. You'd be surprised at how much more you can accomplish if you stick back and be part of your teammates' fight. I've seen the potential. Blake, you're the opposite. Get out of your comfort zone; trust me, you have more strength than you give yourself credit for. And Ruby…stop being so timid. Trust in our teammates' strength and make some more assertive commands." Clark explained.

"Let me guess. Ozpin and Lion are about to pop out and give us a grade are how this mission went. Then the Alpha is gonna pull his mask off and it'll be Qrow, right? From the way you're talking, this is sounding a lot like some kind of training session." Yang joked.

"I wish it were that easy." Clark said as he continued to examine the boxes.

"Guys!" Blake said as she readied herself for a fight.

Everyone else followed suit as they jumped into cover. The slight clank of metal began to appear all across the room before a dark yellow gas began to fill the room. Several White Fang began to pour into the room, gas masks on and weapons at the ready. "What now?" Yang whispered over the scroll while using cloth as a makeshift gas mask. She quickly tied the cloth around her head to keep it in place.

"Can we get out from the other side of the room?" Ruby asked Blake as they both did the same as Yang. Ruby ripped part of her cloak off to in order to keep the gas from entering her lungs. She then ripped another piece of her Cloak to hand it to Weiss, the red of her cloak matching the red blood on Weiss' clothes.

"No. They're coming in from both sides." Blake stated as she used her bow as a gas mask.

"Well, leader? What's your command?" Clark asked as he stared at Ruby. He had, without anyone noticing, taken down one of the White Fang soldiers and was wearing his gas mask.

Ruby opened her mouth but stopped as she noticed everyone looking at her. She closed her mouth and paused for a few seconds. "Yang, cover our six o'clock. Blake, you have the front. Weiss, cover us and I'll pick off any stragglers." Ruby stated as she loaded Crescent Rose with flame rounds. "On three, we all pick off as many as we can and head for the other side of the room. Ready?" She asked.

"You got it!" Yang said as she loaded her right Gauntlet with pulse slugs.

"Just say the word." Blake said as she pulled Shroud from her back and checked Gambol's bolt.

"I'm ready." Weiss said as she activated the White Dust chamber of Myrtenaster. Before they could make their move, each of their scrolls vibrated.

"Hey! It's Lion!" Yang said as she read through the text. "He said he's going to head for the Central Intelligence Room and for us to meet him there." She explained.

"Ladies. Thank you for the help and I wish you the best." Clark said to which the girls looked his way. He was nowhere to be found. Team RWBY looked at the White Fang, who were still searching the area, expecting them to open fire. Nothing happened, he had simply vanished.

"Did he use his semblance?" Yang asked.

"Ugh, what a nuisance." Weiss said with a scoff as each of their scrolls vibrated.

"It doesn't matter, we have a goal this time. We HAVE to make it to the Central Intelligence Room now." Ruby said, changing the subject back to the mission at hand. "Ready?" she asked to which she received three head nods in unison. "Let's go!" Ruby yelled as she and the rest of her team jumped up and began firing into the group of White Fang! The gas had filled the room almost completely, so Yang and Weiss were having trouble seeing through the thick haze.

Ruby had attached an infrared scope to her rifle and seemed to be unhindered by the smoke. She did her best to help Yang by pointing out enemies that she was unable to take out. Blake's hearing made it quite simple for her to remain uninterrupted by the smoke while Weiss simply focused on not allowing any explosions or heavy weaponry to attack them; she had complete trust that her team could handle anything else they sent.

They ran as fast as the group formation would allow. Almost no damage was taken as they continued to pursue their one goal. "Are they even trying?" Yang yelled as the door came into view. Weiss was the first to use the Omni-dust she had taken by activating an Omni-dust glyph. She used it to fire a single projectile, which resulted in a massive explosion where the door was. All of the White Fang were blown back as the group ran through the door into the hall. Weiss fired another projectile, from the Omni-dust glyph, at the ceiling, causing it to crumble upon contact.

"That should hold them back for while!" Weiss yelled as an Atlesian Paladin emerged from a corner far down the hall. Weiss quickly fired another projectile, but the Paladin's chest armor shifted revealing a cannon. It fired a projectile almost identical to Weiss', which made contact with Weiss' projectile in mid-air. It took about three seconds of releasing steam from the Paladin to remove the heat that the Omni-dust energy cannon generated. The cannon began to light up once again. "Stop!" Weiss yelled.

They each ran into the adjacent hall to escape from the Paladin's attack. Weiss expanded the size of her Omni-dust glyph to encompass the entire hall. As they ran down the hall, an explosion could be heard from behind them; they looked back and were awestruck by the sheer amount of destruction by the collision of the Paladin's attack with Weiss' glyph.

"They've somehow managed to create a cannon that is powered by Omni-dust. No wonder they have so much stocked up…" Weiss commented as they each stopped running. She made note of Ruby pulling out her scroll while noticing Yang's discomfort.

"Guess we're not going back that way." Yang said as she rubbed her shoulder.

"How're you holding up?" Blake asked.

"For some reason, my shoulder's hurting really bad…" Yang stated in annoyance.

"I thought your semblance nullified pain for a while." Weiss inquired as she checked the Omni-dust cartridge in Myrtenaster.

"I shouldn't feel any pain…that's why this is weird." Yang stated.

"I can help you dress the wound if you'd like." Blake stated as she reached for her pouch.

"No. Don't worry about me, I can get through this. Anyway, what's the game plan?" Yang asked Ruby who was still studying her scroll.

"Since we can't go back that way, we'll have to make our way down this hall, make a left, stay straight until we reach a dead end, and take another left. That should take us to the Central Intelligence room." Ruby stated.

"Then what're we waiting for?!" Yang exclaimed.

"A plan." Weiss stated. "I doubt that we should just pop in the front door for a fight." She finished.

"I'm inclined to agree. What do you think our best course of action in?" Blake asked the young leader.

"It would be a lot easier for me if Lionel could somehow communicate more." Ruby complained.

"I'm sure he's just waiting on us to get close so he can jump out and tell us all about his badass plan!" Yang stated.

"Okay…well, on the off chance that he doesn't jump out and say that, we should have a plan." Weiss said sarcastically.

"What did you have in mind?" Blake asked in annoyance. "I'm not trying to say Yang's right, but there aren't any other ways into that room beside an alleged emergency exit. We kind of have no choice but to attack head-first." She explained.

"Then I guess we should start to head there." Yang said as she was the first to look down the adjacent hall to check for hostiles. "All clear." She said as she waved her hand.

"What about the Paladins? I doubt they have just one lurking around." Blake asked.

"Well, we've dealt with it twice now…so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Yang said with confidence.

"I'd hardly say running and hiding is 'dealing with them' as you put it." Weiss stated as they each made their way into the hall.

"Guys, where have all the White Fang gone?" Ruby asked.

"What'd you mean?" Yang asked.

"All of them couldn't have poured into that cargo room. And since we made such a ruckus, more of them should be on their way…but we haven't seen anyone on their way there." Ruby stated.

"I haven't seen anyone either. Take a left here!" Blake stated as they each turned the first corner.

"We're getting close to the Central Intelligence Room." Weiss stated.

"Stop, hide!" Blake yelled as they each dived into the closest room. Sudden and powerful explosions began to ring throughout the room. As they each looked back, the entrance to the room was completely destroyed.

"Well…what now?" Yang asked.


	37. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

* * *

"Seriously, though…what was that?" Yang asked as she examined the rubble.

"It was a paladin." Blake stated.

"Okay, are these different mechs that keep attacking us or is it the same one?" Yang asked as she tried to move some of the debris.

"Pretty sure it's the same one. The few scratches and dents that I can see look to be in the same place." Weiss stated.

"It's definitely the same person piloting it, at the very least. He has the same stench." Blake said in annoyance.

"What's up? You sound pissy." Yang inquired.

"Nothing. We need to focus on getting to the objective. What's the new game plan, Ruby?" Blake asked with a sigh.

"I'm thinking. Patch yourselves up and I'll get back to you." Ruby stated while contemplating her next move.

"You good, Ice Queen?" Yang asked.

"I've been without my beauty sleep for quite a while and I'm covered in dust…" Weiss stated in a snarky yet sarcastic manner. "However, I won't be passing out if that's what you mean." She finished with a smirk.

"That's what I like to hear. Blakey?" Yang asked.

"I'm okay. It'll be a lot better when we get back and I can finish my book." She said with an indifferent tone.

"What do you guys think happened with Clark?" Yang asked as she pulled out a bottle of water.

"He used us and threw us away when it suited him. That's all there is to it." Weiss stated as she sat down and crossed her legs.

"I don't think it's fair to say that about him. Most Knights general tend to be rather cryptic and lonesome." Blake stated.

"You think he had a plan?" Yang asked.

"Yes." Blake replied.

"Then he should let us help him. Or at least let us know what the plan is…he shouldn't just blow us off like that." Weiss complained.

"That's just the way these things work." Blake said.

"I suppose, given the circumstances, I can't blame him entirely." Weiss said with a sigh as she, too pulled out a bottle of water to drink.

"Guys, we're pretty close to the Central Intelligence Room. But, we're either taking the air ducts or blasting our way through the wall." Ruby said followed by her, Blake, and Weiss all looking to Yang.

"I can probably bust a few walls…if you ask nicely." Yang said as she flexed her muscles.

"Pretty please?" Ruby said jokingly.

"Anything for my adorable baby sister." Yang stated as she walked up to the wall. She checked her right gauntlet to see the number of pulse slugs that were loaded. Content with the amount of ammo, she pulled her arm back and swung at the wall. Unlike most of her pulse explosions, which are generally violent, this one radiated through the wall, causing a slight vibration, before the wall seemed to be blasted in the direction that she punched. "How's that?" Yang asked.

"Very well controlled. Impressive." Blake said as they each walked into the next room. "Ugh. I know what this room is for." She stated as she held her nose.

"You don't need faunus senses to smell that…why are men's bathroom's always so revolting?" Weiss asked in disgust.

"Yeah, yeah…let's just go. Where to, Rubes?" Yang asked.

"Over there." Ruby said as she pointed to the wall to their left.

"There are quite a few guards circling the hallways around these rooms. Have yourselves ready for when we break through that wall." Blake said as she waved Shroud.

"Would you happen to know how many?" Weiss asked.

"At least thirty. But they don't know which wall we're going to come out at, all they can hear is the noise we're making. They're most concentrated around the doors." Blake explained.

"From the map we've generated, there are six rooms in this section of the hall. Taking into account the destroyed door behind us, then there are five more." Ruby explained.

"I've got an idea." Weiss said as she activated a series of five glyphs, four of which flew through the wall. The fifth one flew to the door to the bathroom and rested against it.

"Oooohh…you're gonna blow them up?" Yang asked.

"Precisely." Weiss said. "Whenever you're ready, let's do this." She finished.

"No more waiting then." Yang said as she walked up the wall where Ruby had pointed to. Like before, she pulled her hand back, putting her back into the punch, before swinging with all of her might. The wall vibrated like before and Weiss took that as her queue to unleash her own devastation. Within just a second or two, a rapid series of explosions went off all at once followed by Team RWBY running out into the hall with their weapons at the ready.

Ruby and Blake picked off what few White Fang that they could see. "The paladin is on the other side of these rooms. We need to hurry." Blake said. They each began to run down the hall, taking a left at the dead end, and continuing on their journey.

"Things are really going our way! I love it!" Yang exclaimed as they finally reached those doors that they have been striving for. The sign above the door said two things: 'West Wing' with an arrow pointed up indicating that they would keep forward to reach that destination and 'Central Intelligence Room' with an arrow pointed to the left.

"We are doing…quite well…" Weiss said with slight hesitation.

"There's no one on the other side of that door. We can move forward." She said as she pushed the door open, checking just to make sure. Confirming that she was right, she opened the door all the way before each of them walked into the small room and faced the doors to the Central Intelligence Room.

"Blake?" Ruby inquired.

"The Alpha is definitely on the other side of that door. But…that's it. Just him." Blake responded, slightly confused.

"Someone's a little ballsy." Yang said in her usual confident tone.

"Weiss? What's wrong? You seem a little out of it." Ruby stated.

"I'm fine. Isn't Lionel supposed to be here?" Weiss said to change the subject but making no effort to conceal her discontent.

"I don't think so." Blake said.

"Do you guys wanna wait for him or just go to work by ourselves?" Yang asked with a smirk.

"Please…I insist…" a voice growled throughout each of their ears. It sounded like he was speaking into each one of their ears simultaneously.

"What the fuck?" Yang yelled.

"I don't think waiting for Lionel is a viable option, unfortunately." Blake said as she put herself in a fighting pose, followed by each of her teammates.

"Let's go!" Ruby yelled as she busted through the door with her team. The Alpha looked just as the hologram did when Lionel presented it to them before. Many aspects of a Grimm, but still humanoid like. "His aura…it's so unsettling." The young leader stated.

"What am I feeling?" Yang said as they each waited for the beast to make a move. The Central Intelligence Room was a complete mess. There was obvious damage that was caused by Lionel from his previous visit with Qrow, but there was no doubt that something drastic had changed…though they couldn't quite place their finger on it. There were Grimm eggs hung on the walls and ceiling and most of the lights had either dimmed or gone out. It looked like a nasty infection had spread throughout the room. And the Alpha was simply standing in the center of it all, unmoving.

"You're feeling despair. Fear. Anxiety." Blake said. "I'm all too familiar with this headspace…" she stated.

"So his aura provides the aspect of passive mental warfare. Great." Weiss said.

"Normally, I would absorb power as great as yours. But…I will not take that chance. You will die." The Alpha growled as he flew forward toward the girls. Each of them jumped out of the way in their own direction. The beast followed Yang, attempting to strike her before being bombarded by a high-powered rifle.

"Get away from her!" Ruby yelled as she fired her weapon.

The alpha yelled violently, "Then it will be you that–" an explosion knocked the beast against a nearby wall.

"Don't even try it, freak!" Weiss yelled as she readied another Omni-dust glyph. The Alpha stood back up with noticeable burn marks on his body. "Don't give him a chance to attack!" the heiress yelled.

Each of the girls did just that while they had the opportunity. The Alpha began running toward Blake who was quickly on the other side of the room leaving a clone in her place. The Alpha was none the wiser as he attacked the clone before a violent explosion knocked him against one of the destroyed computers. He looked back to see Blake on the other side of the room, aiming Gambol in his direction. Yang had finished cocking her gauntlets with Omni-dust, to which the Alpha had noticed. Finally, Ruby pulled the bolt back on her rifle, allowing the clang of the metal to ring throughout the room.

"He isn't fully powered yet, so use the Omni-dust!" Ruby yelled as Yang appeared in front of the beast before plunging her fist into his gut with a powerful uppercut. The punch was immediately followed by the Alpha being shot into the air by a powerful Omni-dust pulse. Blood was gushing from his abdomen when Weiss' Omni-dust glyph appeared in front of the monster, exploding and blasting him into the wall close to the ceiling. He jumped out of the hole in the wall, landing on the ground with a growl before Blake began to fire at the back of his legs with her Omni-dust rounds. He fell to his knees as Blake threw Gambol at the Alpha's head, wrapping his neck with her ribbon. She pulled as hard as she could, lifting his head up while he remained on his knees.

"This one's all you, Rubes…" Yang said as Ruby appeared in front of the kneeling Alpha. She aimed her rifle right at his head with all the discipline she could muster before squeezing the trigger. A loud clang rang throughout the room as blood splattered all across the ground. The Alpha's body fell to the ground as a dark red, almost black, blood spurted from where his head used to be.

Each of the girls walked up the Alpha's body. Yang nudged his arm with her boot, wondering if he was going to get back up. "That was…easy?" Yang stated in confusion.

"I agree. Quite anti-climactic." Weiss said as she looked around the room.

"What now?" Ruby asked.

"We go back to Vale and tell everyone that we kicked ass!" Yang said assertively.

"No. There has to be something more to this…" Blake said as she examined the Alpha's body.

"Yang, how is your shoulder feeling?" Weiss asked.

"Uhh…it still hurts but I'll be fine." Yang responded.

"Aren't you supposed to be immune to pain? At least for a while?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, I don't know what's different this time." Yang stated.

"Guys, where's Lionel at? I figured he would be here." Ruby wondered.

Blake checked her scroll and saw that the signal disturbance had vanished. "I could give him a call if–"

The door swung open, revealing three figures, causing the girls to immediately reenter their fighting stances. "Hey, hey…look who it is." Qrow said with a smirk.

"Uncle Qrow?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"You four did an amazing job. I can't believe you killed the Alpha!" Lionel said.

"You sure took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?" Yang said sarcastically.

"I took the scenic route. And met an old friend along the way…" Lionel said as he glanced at Clark.

"Sorry about ditching you three like that. The Knight-General and I had a plan…but from the looks of it, I should have just stuck with you. Good job." Clark said in an exhausted tone.

"It's cool. I'm just ready to get back and take a shower." Yang said as she stretched her arms.

"Speaking of which, are you sure that this Grimm is actually dead? The fight was…well, easy." Blake inquired.

"Kids just don't understand modesty, do they. You killed the monster and saved the day and the first thing you say is that it was easy. Priceless." Qrow said as he, Lionel, and Clark walked to the Alpha's body to see the damage.

"Looks dead to me." Lionel said.

"Ha! I made sure of that!" Ruby said confidently.

"What about the White Fang? Have they snapped out of it? Are they coming to attack us?" Yang asked as she walked up to her uncle.

"They're all unconscious. The kingdom of Vale has already deployed troops to this outpost. Everything will be sorted out soon." Qrow said as he slapped Yang on the back jokingly.

"Sweet. We'll all be home soon…I can't wait!" Yang exclaimed in an almost whining tone. They each began to laugh with the exception of one heiress to which Ruby noticed.

"Weiss? Are you okay? You haven't said anything. And you look…mad." Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed. "Yang didn't that hurt? When your uncle slapped you on the back." Weiss asked.

"No. I guess winning gave me enough strength back for my semblance to kick in. You've been really concerned about me…what's up?" Yang asked.

Ignoring Yang's question, Weiss moved on. "Blake, when the Alpha attacked you, you created a clone to dodge him…but how did you manage to do so from the other side of the room. I thought there was a limited distance." Weiss questioned.

"I assumed it just happened in the spur of the moment. I'm not entirely sure." Blake responded.

"I thought Qrow was at another outpost…and…" Weiss trailed off as she looked at Myrtenaster, which was holstered on her side and a calm smile came to her lips.

"Are you okay Weiss?" Ruby asked as she placed her hand on Weiss' shoulder.

"Yes. I understand now." Weiss said softly after noticing her Omni-dust had not depleted.

Yang rolled her eyes, "Good. Then let's get the hell out of here before something crazy–"

In an instant, Weiss had flown forward to where Lionel was standing. It happened in what seemed like slow motion…Myrtenaster was completely penetrated Lionel's neck. Weiss pulled her blade back, spun in a circle, simultaneously slicing the throats of both Clark and Qrow. She pulled Myrtenaster close to her body and swapped the positions that she was holding it in so that the blade was facing downward, and embedded the tip into the ground.

"Weiss, what the fuck?!" Yang yelled as Weiss summoned a massive Omni-dust glyph under everyone's feet. Qrow, Clark, and Lionel held their necks in horror as their life slipped from their eyes, watching the events unfold. Weiss pulled her blade out of the ground swing the tip up to the ceiling. The glyph instantly began to glow before an explosion shook the whole room.

* * *

Weiss opened her eyes as she was awoken by a tickling sensation on her nose. She saw the ground and wiggled her nose to stop the sensation. When it would not subside, she tried to pull her arm to her face to wipe, what she assumed to be, hair from her face. Try as she might, her arm would not come any closer, but rather, the sound of metal rang throughout the room she was. She turned her head to be met with chains hanging from the wall which kept her hands from moving. She tilted her head down and shook her head back and forth until the noticed the small puddle of blood. She stared at it as a single drop of blood dripped off of her nose into the puddle.

"You're finally back." A familiar voice said from her right. Weiss turned her head to be met with Clark's bloodied form.

"What…happened?" Weiss asked as she began to examine the room which looked like a medieval dungeon. She looked to her left and saw Ruby, Blake and Yang unconscious, but in very much the same shape as her.

"Remember when I said the Alpha can invade your mind…well, that's what happened. When we found the Omi-dust, they began throwing canisters of gas into the room." Clark began to explain.

"But those didn't have purple dust in them." Weiss argued.

"No. But they did have Grimm spores mixed with them. Purple dust is only capable of manipulating someone's perception, like what they see, hear, taste, and so on. The Alpha uses Grimm Spores to actually control his subjects like slaves." Clark explained.

"Wait…are we under his control?" Weiss asked.

"It's not like we've been able to study his powers or anything like that…but to my knowledge, being able to come out of that trance you were in should mean you're in the clear. However, nothing is certain until the Alpha is dead." Clark stated sternly.

"What about them?" Weiss asked as she looked back to her teammates.

"They should be fine. As I'm sure you know, mind manipulation is much simpler when things are familiar to the subject...otherwise, they would simply reject what they were being shown." Clark stated.

"So he put us four in a fake reality together in the hopes of an easier time controlling us?" Weiss finished.

"Precisely. That fact that you were able to come out means that they will soon follow. They're probably just sleeping right now." Clark said.

"Alright then, onto the next issue. What do we do now?" Weiss asked.

"We need them to wake up before we make any kind of move. Otherwise, they're just going to slow us down. When that time does come, however, we can probably escape and regroup from this room." Clark explained.

"How so?" Weiss asked.

"The forest that surrounds this base eventually leads to a series of waterfalls and cliffs. This prison is built into the side of one of those cliffs. If we can get free, we'll find some way to blast a hole through the wall and dive into the ocean." Clark said.

"I have…reinforcements outside waiting on us. If we can blast a hole through the wall, then I can get through the signal interference and call for him to pick us up." Weiss said.

"That works for me." Clark said as a screeching sound filled the hallway outside of their cell. A loud clang followed before footsteps began to ring through the hall. The person stopped right outside of their cell, looking inside at the inhabitants. He was a tall figure who carried a calm, but confident demeanor. He wore a black trench coat with red and white patterns decorating the left shoulder, with a red shirt underneath. His outfit wasn't the most recognizable part, however, his mask was.

"Adam!" Blake said in a rage causing Weiss to turn her head to see Blake staring at him with fire in her eyes.

"Hello, my darling." Adam said with a sickening grin.


	38. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

* * *

"It was you the whole time…I knew it." Blake stated in a rage.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked as Adam stood behind the bar door.

"I knew I recognized the scent of the person piloting the Paladin that has been hunting us. I didn't want to believe that it was him, but of course…" Blake said.

"How have you been able to retain your sanity in the presence of the Alpha?" Clark asked.

"It's thanks to me that the Alpha has even been reborn. Years of research and gathering supplies have finally come to fruition. That was the entire reason I even came to power in the first place." Adam stated.

"What do you mean? You were voted in by the elder council! How have you been planning this before then?" Blake protested.

"I cannot believe you still think there is innocence in this world. The only way you move up in the world is by stepping on the bodies of those beneath you. I wasn't voted in…I threatened, blackmailed, and bribed my way to leadership. All for the purpose of reviving the Alpha." Adam stated.

"You obviously have not done enough research on the Alpha to know what you're doing. He isn't the 'scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' type." Clark said.

"He is intelligent. That's the only thing I needed to know. If he can be reasoned with, then I'm sure he would be able to see a good deal." Adam sighed.

"And everyone else?" Yang interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Adam asked as Blake shot her head to Yang. Blake looked noticeably relieved for a moment.

"The rest of the faunus! You would just let him kill thousands, and eventually, millions of faunus?" Yang asked.

"Sacrifices have to be made. Besides, as you saw while evading the turrets, not all of the faunus have had their minds altered. Only the…expendable ones will be taken advantage of." Adam said with a smile.

"The expendable?! They came to you in hopes of creating a better world for themselves!" Yang yelled in anger, her eyes turning a dark red.

"Just like Blake, you're still so innocent? Interesting." Adam said.

"No. I believe innocence still exists in the world…but trust me when I say that I am the farthest from innocent. And if you don't believe me, just let me out of these chains and I'll show you exactly what I mean, bitch." Yang yelled.

"As tempting as that is, the Alpha seems very hesitant about releasing you all, for some reason. It doesn't really matter to me…besides, I am quite busy preparing our army to attack." Adam said with a smile.

"Not much of an army with you killing off all your people!" Yang stated in annoyance.

"True, but the Alpha has rectified that." Adam said as he looked into one of the dark corners of the room. A part of the wall adjusted itself before slowly moving across the floor revealing an opening. A growling echoed throughout the room as a Beowolf slowly stepped out of the shadows and made its way to the girls and Clark. It sniffed each of the girls, stopping at the still unconscious Ruby. The Beowolf took its time examining the young leader bearing its sharp teeth close to her neck.

"STOP IT YOU SON OF BITCH!" Yang yelled as she pulled at her arms, yanking the chains as hard as she could. The walls began to slightly crack at the ruckus she was making, but in no way making a significant difference.

"Enough. Please stop your tantrum." Adam said which caused the Beowolf to look back at him. It slowly made its way back to the hole it came from, allowing it to close completely.

"The Alpha has given you the ability to control Grimm as well? You're serious when you're talking about having an army." Clark stated.

"I would never joke about something so important. Just know that any kind of significant motion, or at least any kind of motion beyond where you currently are, will trigger the door to open allowing Grimm into the room. Put simply, don't fucking move." Adam said before making his way out of the hallway. "When I return, all will finally be right with the world." He finished as he closed the door behind him.

Yang lifted her head, revealing the tears that were running down her cheeks from her blood-red eyes, after seeing her sister was safe. "They threatened Ruby…He's fucking dead. I swear to Remnant…I will make him suffer." Yang mumbled through her sniffles.

"Don't worry, Yang. We'll all have our fair shot at him." Weiss said.

"What's the plan?" Blake asked, changing the subject.

"Well, as far as I know, Klein is still waiting outside for us. If we can make it out there, then we'll be able to contact everyone else and warn them." Weiss stated.

"We'll need our weapons before we leave." Yang said monotonously.

"How are we going to find them?" Blake asked.

"I know that Ruby has tracking device embedded in Crescent Rose. We find her weapon and we'll probably find ours, too." Yang explained.

"Only if we can. If their too far away, we might just have to leave without them. I honestly don't see us being able to make it back to the cargo hold in our current shape." Weiss stated.

"Yeah…I know." Yang said.

"Well. We might as well get down to business then." Clark said his arms seemed to phase through the cuffs around his wrists with one swift movement.

"What the hell?!" Yang gasped, causing both Weiss and Blake to look in her direction. Clark was standing over her, holding her forearms; with yet another swift movement, hell pulled her arms free from the braces around her wrists which looked to simply phase through them once again.

"Don't move." Clark said as he examined the room they were in. He pointed toward the area where the Beowolf came from and then pointed to the single motion sensor on the corner ceiling of the room. "I'll be right back." He stated before seeming to disappear again.

"What are the chances of him coming back?" Weiss asked sarcastically.

"That's probably why he released, Yang. There would have been no reason for him to do that if he intended on just leaving us here." Blake said. They each heard a loud cracking noise from where Clark had been chained up. Upon looking in that direction they were met with the sight of five Beowolfs piled in the corner with Clark standing next to them holding one by the neck, which he had just broken. He proceeded to chain up one of the Beowolfs where he had been held at.

"I get it." Blake said.

"Good. But still, don't move until I say so." Clark stated as he grabbed a second Beowolf and appeared next to Weiss. He grabbed both of her arms and freed them in much the same way as his own and Yang's, replacing her with the Beowolf. He proceeded to do the same for Ruby, Blake, and Yang, the last of which had been waiting patiently since she had already been freed.

"What about Ruby?" Yang asked.

"Let me try something." Weiss said as she placed her hand in the middle of Ruby's chest. A very small yellow glyph appeared before Ruby's body seemed to slightly tense up. Her eyes shot open as she began to breathe rather deeply. "Calm down, Ruby." Weiss said calmly as she hugged the young leader.

"What happened? Were we under mind control?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. But, we're all better now. We're about to get out of here, but we need to get our weapons first. Yang said you have a tracking device in Crescent Rose, correct?" Weiss explained.

"Yeah…" Ruby said as she pulled her scroll out. "They're moving really fast…they must be on board some kind of aircraft." She stated.

"Are you fucking serious?!" Yang asked in annoyance.

"Just a sec…" Ruby said as she began to rewind the movements of the tracking device. "They were taken from us after we found the Omni-dust, and given to someone who never put them away. This person has kept our weapons with them the whole…" Ruby trailed off.

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"Our weapons were right of this room not too long ago." Ruby said in confusion.

"Adam!" Blake said in rage.

"He's here?!" Ruby asked in surprise.

"Yeah. And he was literally HERE taunting us not too long ago." Yang said.

"We'll have to get your weapons back some other time. There is no way we're going to be in any shape to get them now and we still have to warn everyone about what's coming." Clark stated.

"Fine. How are we getting out?" Yang asked.

"We're going to bust a hole through the wall, right?" Weiss asked Clark.

"That was the plan, but with the motion sensor there, we would probably get overrun very soon. That's why I put the Beowolfs in our places…I will get us out of the room and we'll have to find an easily defendable place to start chipping away at the wall." Clark explained.

"Okay." Yang said as she placed her hand on Blake's shoulder. "C'mon guys, I'm ready to get the hell out of here." Yang stated.

"I agree." Blake said as she took hold of Ruby's cloak. Ruby followed up by placing her hand on Weiss back. Clark extended his hand allowing Weiss to grab hold, and, before they could say another word, they were standing outside of the jail cell. Clark looked back inside to see if they had triggered the motion sensor, but fortunately, the hidden door remained closed.

"So, are we going to blast a hole in one of the other cells?" Yang asked.

"No, they surely bound to have motion sensors as well. We need to find a room where Beowolfs won't be pouring in along with White Fang. It's not like they won't be able to hear us going through the wall…and without our weapons, it's going to take a bit to get all the way through." Blake stated.

"Exactly, and what we need is a room with only one entrance so we can bottleneck the soldiers that will be coming in." Clark said as he began to jog down the hallway. He reached the end of the hall only to disappear and quickly reappear in the same spot. "There's no one on the other side, so let's hurry." He stated.

"Using your semblance doesn't seem to take quite as much of a toll on you anymore. What's up?" Yang asked as they all caught up to him at the end of the hall. He simply pulled a small vial out of his pocket which was filled half way with Omni-dust.

"Let's hurry." Clark said as she placed the vial back into his pocket before opening the door. They each made their way into the hall, which looked as though it was slowly crumbling to pieces. As they ran down the hall, they began to notice a few familiar places up until they passed one hall which looked as though a bomb had decimated it.

"Well, I know where we are now." Yang said as she saw the familiar sandbags and destroyed walls. "I don't suppose you have any more of Lion's jackets to throw do you?" she asked sarcastically.

"Unfortunately not." Clark said as he opened one of the doors further down the hall and examined the room. "This should work…what do you think?" He asked Ruby. The young leader looked inside the room, which was a reasonable size…not to cramped, but also not too large.

"The size of the room is fine…and we can use those desks of there as cover. We can probably grab some of the scattered sandbags from back down the hall to help reinforce it. The only way in is this door, but there are also to air ducts." Ruby stated as she examined the room.

"I got that." Yang said as she walked into the room holding a grenade in each hand.

"Where in the world did you get those?" Weiss asked.

"From a couple of the corpses back there. Well…a piece of the corpse, I guess." Yang responded.

"Well, before we start making that much noise, let's go ahead and get our cover set up." Blake stated as she began to push the two desks into a defensive position against each side of the wall leaving about a three-foot space in the middle of the room to walk through.

"Awesome, perfect fit." Ruby exclaimed as she ran outside with her team to begin lugging the sandbags into the room. One after another, they were stacking the sandbags up until they had no more viable ones left.

"I think that's all of the sandbags we can get. The rest are torn to shreds." Weiss said.

"Take these, also." Blake said as she brought in a two large duffle bags.

"Where did you get these?" Yang asked as she opened the bag and pulled out an anti-matter energy rifle.

"It was sitting further down the hall from where the explosion took place. The person carrying it was too far from the explosion but the falling debris killed him." Blake explained.

"This should work quite well." Clark said as he pulled one of the rifles out for himself, followed by both Yang and Ruby.

"Aren't you going to take one, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"I'll be the one breaking through the wall." Weiss stated.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that." Ruby giggled. "Hey, where'd Clark go?" she asked.

"I'm here…" Clark said as he ran back into the room holding three more vials of Omni-dust. "These are for you." She said as he handed them to Weiss.

"Wait, should we go and get more?" Yang asked.

"That was all that was left; they were just lying on the ground. They're serious about this invasion." Clark stated as he made his way behind the desks and sandbags. "Have we separated the ammo from the second back between the four of us?" he asked Ruby, Yang, and Blake.

"We're all set over here." Blake said as she aimed her rifle toward the door, to which Clark and Ruby followed suit.

"You guys ready?" Yang asked.

"I suppose. Just keep me covered." Weiss said as she summoned a large red glyph which encompassed a large portion of the wall.

"Don't worry, Ice Queen…we've got you." Yang said calmly as she pulled the pin from each of the explosives before throwing them into the air ducts. They seemed to travel for quite a while, the clanking of metal getting slightly more distant before the expected explosion rang throughout the room. The ducts could be heard as they shattered to pieces within the walls. Without hesitation, Weiss began to burn her way through the wall at a slow pace.

"Would you happen to know how much rock she's going to have to go through?" Blake asked as an alarm began to ring throughout the facility.

"A lot." Clark said sarcastically.

"Real helpful, bro…" Yang said as she got into cover next to Blake and aimed her rifle toward the door.

"They're coming…" Blake said as he ears began to twitch.

"How many?" Clark asked.

"A lot." Blake said as she fired a shot from her rifle the moment a single soldier ran into the room, who obviously was not expecting any resistance. Blake looked back at Weiss and saw that she was only about one inch of the way into the wall.

"We're going to be here for quite a while aren't we?" Blake sighed.

"Yeah. Settle in and get comfortable. The last thing you need is your leg falling asleep now." Yang said sarcastically. Almost in an instant, hundreds of footsteps could be heard echoing through the halls. "Damn…I don't you to tell me if anyone's coming now. Even I can hear that." She stated.

More and more White Fang began to arrive, but each time they stuck their heads out to examine the room, they were immediately shot down. "Blake, let us know if you hear any paladins coming." Ruby said as two large explosions destroyed the upper half of the wall next to the door. As the rubble fell, the White Fang began to take position behind the wreckage.

"Make-shift cover…that sucks." Yang said as she, Ruby, Blake, and Clark began to fire upon the enemy. Weiss looked back to see what had transpired before she ducked down behind the cover next to Yang, still holding her glyph against the wall.

"Ugh, this got significantly more difficult." Weiss complained as she continued to concentrate on the glyph as bullets fired all around her.

"Sorry, Ice Queen. But I don't think they want us to leave." Yang said.

"Are you enjoying this?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah. After everything we've been, though, there's nothing like a good old-fashioned shoot out to calm you down." Yang responded before noticing one of the White Fang pull out a rocket launcher and fire it at them. "Get down!" She yelled as she and Blake ducked behind cover as the fire engulfed the air around them.

Blake sighed as she looked back at the wall once again only to see at most two inches of progress. She closed her eyes in annoyance before bringing her body out of cover and continuing their war.


	39. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

* * *

Author's Note: I don't believe I've had a note at the beginning for quite a while. I'm truly glad to see the progress the story has made thus far and am always elated to see people are still interested in it. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and hope that this new year brings you all the best. Enjoy the chapter and stay safe!

* * *

"Weiss! How much longer?!" Yang yelled over the sound of gunfire.

"I don't know! I've made it passed the interior of the building, but I assume I still have a ton of dirt and rock to go through!" Weiss explained. At this point, she was sitting next Yang, behind cover.

"I'm kinda surprised they haven't just blown us to hell yet…" Yang said as she ducked down to reload.

"They been using explosives on us for quite a while and it hasn't been working. Plus, they know that we're trying to escape…I'm sure that someone has come to the realization that we would just survive another blast and they would ultimately just help us with getting through the wall." Blake stated as she, too, reloaded her weapon.

"At least their finally getting the message…" Yang said with a smirk before unloading her weapon on the enemy once again. "Oh yeah! Who's keeping count?! I'm dropping one after another!" she exclaimed after another successful counter-attack.

"This isn't a game, you brute!" Weiss yelled.

"I like that idea!" Clark yelled, changing the subject.

"What idea?" Ruby asked.

"Explosions!" Clark yelled as he threw two of the ammo magazines at the two groups of White Fang, respectively. He quickly stuck his head out and fired at the two magazines on the ground causing a massive explosion. The ground beneath the White Fang began to crack and crumble in a few places.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Weiss said as the White Fang jumped out of the way of the crumbling ground as the cracks became slow to form. Team RWBY and Clark watched the cracks get closer to them until they, fortunately, stopped in their tracks.

"Damn…that wasn't cool." Yang said.

"Sometimes you have to just take a leap of faith and hope everything works out." Clark said smugly.

"I don't think we should go for that kind of leap, though…" Ruby stated as she looked through the crumbling ground to see that there was some sort of underground lava source below them.

"I think he's right guys. I don't know about you two, but we're getting low on ammo over here." Blake said as she looked through the duffle bag they had on their side.

"We don't have too much left either, but still…" Ruby stated.

"Doesn't matter anymore. Besides, you'll be happy there's a hole there later." Clark said.

"How do you figure that?" Weiss said as she stood up to examine the hole.

"You'll just have to wait and see." Clark said as he, too, stood up and made his way to the wall that Weiss had been digging through. He pulled his scroll out and noticed that he going in and out of having a connection. "Weiss, I have a small, intermittent connection. "Check your scroll to see if you can contact your support on the outside." He stated followed by Weiss quickly checking her scroll as she got as close to the partially destroyed wall as she could.

"I can just barely send a message…" Weiss stated as she quickly typed on her scroll.

"Does this support of yours have any explosives on board?" Clark asked.

"Probably, he's in a disguised gunship." Weiss replied.

"Then tell him to begin firing at the rock from the outside so we can speed this whole thing up" Clark stated.

Weiss glanced in his direction, "Do you really think –" she said before being cut off by the loud ring of a weapon being fired. A dark red stained the wall next to her as she slowly backed up. A thud sounded through the room before Blake stood up with her weapon in her hand, aiming directly at the White Fang soldier who was peeking around the wall. Yang grabbed one of the ammunition magazines and through it into the hall, to which Blake took the opportunity and fired at it while it was still flying through the air. It exploded with the same force as earlier except it quickly caused the ceiling and walls to crumble leaving the other side of the hallway as the only accessible path to them. Blake remedied that by picking up another ammo magazine and throwing it into the hall before aiming the rifle with one hand and firing at it. The resulting explosion completely cut them off from the rest of the base.

Yang, Ruby, and Blake quickly ran over to the scene to assess the situation. "Get the medical kit out, now!" Ruby yelled as she began to work with her semblance to keep the blood from spurting of so fast. Yang quickly placed down the medical kit as Blake walked back to search through the duffle bag that held their ammunition.

Yang began pulling out the stitches and antiseptic as another set of hands pulled out a small syringe and filled it with morphine. Yang looked over to see the needle being injected into his body. "Hurry and stitch him up." Weiss said as she quickly sent the text to Klein.

Yang did not hesitate to pour some of the antiseptic onto her hands and onto the wound before sticking beginning to stitch up the wound in Clark's neck. It didn't take much time as Clark was already unconscious. Blake returned to pull out another syringe from the medical kit. "Weiss already gave him some morphine." Yang said.

"I know." Blake stated as she pulled out a vial of Omni-dust and stuck the needle inside of it.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked. Blake didn't respond but quickly sent the needle into a vein in Clark's arm and squeezing the substance into his body.

"Are you insane?!" Weiss yelled as she grabbed Blake's arm too late.

"No…this is going to make him better." Blake said.

"How in Remnant could you think that? Omni-dust is pure energy! What's next…injecting Uranium into his body?!" Weiss asked sarcastically before a series of coughs brought her attention back to the recently still body lying on the ground.

"Clark?! Are you okay?" Ruby asked as she tried to examine his wound, only to realize it wasn't there.

"How did that happen? Can Omni-dust heal people that fast? Why isn't this already a thing?" Yang asked.

"It only works for him…because of his semblance." Blake stated.

"He never told us his semblance. What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"I've slowly pieced it together as we've been together. We thought it was teleportation, but that wouldn't make sense. If it was, we would simply disappear in one are, and appear in another. Then I thought he was manipulating time, and I believed that right up until he was just shot. Now I see, he has the ability to manipulate the very atoms themselves. Am I correct, Lionel?" Blake asked as she looked to her left to which the rest of the girls followed her lead.

"When did you suspect it was me?" Lionel asked as Ruby, Yang, and Weiss looked back at the ground to see nothing but a puddle of blood.

"From the very beginning…I have a really good sense of smell." Blake said.

"True, but no other faunus has ever figured that out." Lionel said.

"And no other faunus has had the privilege of being trained by you for so long." Blake responded.

"Indeed." Lionel said as he finally turned around to look at the girls. "I think it's about time we left." He said as he walked up to the wall that Weiss had been working on getting through.

"It seems we'll need more Omni-dust." Blake stated smugly.

"Yeah, yeah…I've still got some wrinkles. I'll be back to normal when we return home." Lionel said as he placed his hand on the wall before a surge of energy rushed through the rock and dirt. Before anyone could ask what he was attempting to do, it shattered as it was launched forward, creating a sizeable hole.

"It was you the whole time? Is that why you were being such a nuisance?" Weiss asked.

"I was trying to keep a low profile. Adam honestly believes that the Alpha will work with him but doesn't realize that secrets are being kept from him. He didn't know who I was and I didn't want that to change." Lionel started as a hum echoed in the distance. "...it would seem our friend has arrived." He finished as the gunship quickly approached the hole in the side of the cliff.

"Time to go home, everyone!" Yang said as they all jumped into the ship.

"Klein, please take us home." Weiss said with a sigh.

"Of course." Klein stated.

"But first…" Lionel started before pointing his finger into the room they had just exited. "Fire a missile into that room and quickly retreat to a safe distance." He stated.

"With pleasure!" Klein stated as he turned the gunship to a slight angle and fired a single shot into the room. The missile broke through the floor without exploding and continued on as the ship flew away from the scene. The mild whistling noise it made continued for a short time until a massive explosion destroyed the entire cliff, momentarily revealing some of the many layers of the base before they were all engulfed in flames. The ground of the forest seemed to shake like a waterbed before the entire base had been completely obliterated.

"How did that one missile do so much damage?" Weiss asked.

"Told you we'd be happy that we left that hole there." Lionel said.

"That doesn't answer my question." Weiss stated.

"They were using thermal energy to keep their base operational. We just destroyed their reactor, which, in turn, destroyed their base." Lionel explained.

"And the Alpha?" Ruby asked.

"Unfortunately, he's quite a bit stronger than a measly explosion." Lionel stated.

"Now what?" Blake asked.

"We return to Beacon and warn everyone about the inevitable Grimm War." Lionel stated as he took a seat.

* * *

"This is quite troubling, indeed." Ozpin said as he slowly paced with his coffee in hand.

"What do you propose we do, Lionel?" Ironwood asked.

"I wish that I could give you a better answer…but, we are going to war. The only way to do this is to kill the Alpha, once again." Lionel stated.

"From everything you've explained this far, I'm going to assume that it is easier said than done." Ironwood responded.

"In a manner of speaking. He's has a ridiculously powerful aura, the ability to control minds and enslave people's bodies, and is intelligent…but is otherwise a normal Grimm." Lionel stated.

"And can be killed like any other Grimm." Ozpin finished.

"Yes. The previous Grimm War had most of the soldier holding off the Grimm while the Knights, Saviors, and a select number of powerful Hunters targeting the Alpha." Lionel explained.

"So…don't fix it if it's not broken?" Ironwood asked.

"Unless you have a better idea. The Alpha isn't an enemy who can be outsmarted…he's will know when someone is sneaking up on him, his sheer strength makes your ships and weapons obsolete, and he has literally all of the Grimm as well as many mind-controlled individuals under his command. So you have to beat him in a way that doesn't require strategy, technology, or numbers." Lionel explained.

"Which is…?" Ironwood prodded.

"Hit him really hard!" Yang exclaimed as she punched her fists together.

"She took the words right out of my mouth." Lionel stated with a grin.

"This absurdity is getting us nowhere. Do you know how many live are on the line?" Ironwood asked in annoyance.

"I'm significantly more aware of that than you. I've already stated that I have given you all of the information regarding the Alpha that I have within my possession. With that in mind, would you happen to have any plans?" Lionel asked.

"How is it possible that something can be that powerful? That defies all logic and reason." Ironwood stated.

"Possibility? Logic? Reason? He doesn't care about any of that." Lionel said.

Ironwood sighed, "Lionel, listen to me –"

"No, Ironwood. You listen to me. If you manage to come up with any better plans, feel free to share with the rest of the class. I have an intimate understanding of how this creature operates and I have shared that understanding with you all. I have been unable to devise a better plan than simple brute force. However, I am certainly open to more possibilities and ideas." Lionel said as he turned his back to the two headmasters.

"Where are you off to, Knight-General?" Ozpin asked sarcastically, already knowing the answer.

"We're going to train. I'll keep you updated if I hear anything else." Lionel stated as he and Team RWBY stepped into the elevator.

"Are we gonna get to fight the Alpha?" Yang asked.

"Yes." Lionel stated.

"And how do you propose we go about doing that? Do you really think we'll have enough time to train before this creature attacks?" Weiss asked.

"I didn't necessarily mean physical, though there will be some endurance needed." Lionel said.

"I've got endurance for days!" Yang stated.

"That's good. Because I have two ideas. A plan of attack…kind of. And a backup plan…sort of." Lionel said.

"That's helpful." Blake stated.

"Don't worry. I'll explain when we get back to my training ground." Lionel stated as the elevator doors opened.

"What kind f training did you have in mind exactly?" Ruby asked.

"It may sound frightening at first...and it will probably be terrifying and painful at first as well. Or maybe not...it seems to never have a consistent effect." Lionel explained.

"What are you talking about?"Weiss asked.

"Omni-dust. You can train your body to use it if it's injected just like me." Lionel stated, waiting for a response that never came. "What do you think?" he asked as he turned his head to see the girls. Ruby and Yang seemed to be less affected by what they had heard than Weiss and Blake were, but were still noticeably shaken. Blake and Weiss, on the other hand, had their eyes wide and looked as though they might be ready to fight at any moment.

"You can't be serious!" Weiss yelled.

"Honestly, what if you're wrong? that could kill us." Blake inquired.

"I don't think we have a choice in the matter. Besides, people hear that and assume that it's just crazy talk. The Knights have been experimenting with Omni-dust for centuries. There's actually a method to manipulating your body to use Omni-dust. Trust me when I say, this is not a lottery, there is no luck involved. You will be fine...it's jus a matter of how much you'll have to endure until you get to that point." Lionel said.

"Even if we assume that this was a good idea, you make it sound like we would have to work for many years in order to procure this skill." Weiss said.

"No...but it may feel like it." Lionel said with a sigh as he remembered his time learning this talent.

"Could you please stop being so cryptic? What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Omni-dust is energy and lets off an electromagnetic pulse like all other forms of pure energy. These pulses react with the electromagnetic waves in your brain and drastically alter your perception. Everything you know will be turned upside down when the Omni-dust enters your body...until you can learn to control it." Lionel explained.

"So it's basically a really strong drug?" Yang asked.

"Until you can control it...yes. When you learn how to use it properly...it becomes really strong steroid." Lionel joked.

"Sounds good to me!" Yang stated

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked.

"Like he told Ironwood, we don't really have many other options. And trusting Lion has been the best plan every time up to this point. So, why not?" Yang asked.

"Everyone's different. The way he made it sound, it can really mess you up if you aren't mentally prepared." Blake said as she pondered the thought.

"How much?" Yang asked Lionel.

"There has never been a single time where someone came out from this ordeal and had any debilitating mental issues. However, if you can't handle it, it can definitely leave you...different. As I said, everything you know and believe is completely washed away until you can learn to control it." Lionel explained.

"Then I'll make sure I do it right." Yang said.

"We're actually going to do this, aren't we?" Weiss asked.

"I don't see any better options. But why 'us' specifially?" Blake asked.

"I'll explain that when we return. But for the time being, will you at least humor the notion? Trust me, it has to be you four who do this or else many people will die." Lionel said.

"Fine...let's see." Blake said.

"If it means I can help everyone, then I'm in." Ruby said.

"The worst part is, I know you're probably right. So the only thing keeping from wanting to do this is my own fear...I hate being scared." Weiss said as she looked at her team. "But I'll do it." she finished.

"Then we'll begin as soon as we return. I'll also explain everything there." Lionel stated with a smile.


	40. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

* * *

"I wish there was something I could say in order to prepare you all for what's next, but English…no, human language, in general, is completely incapable of describing the experiences you'll face." Lionel stated as he brought a tray of plates and cups into the living room of his manor.

"I'm still not quite familiar with what you said earlier. When we were on our way back here, you said something along the lines of '…it will probably be painful and terrifying, or maybe not; it never has a consistent effect.' What did you mean by that?" Blake asked as Lionel was walking back to the kitchen after setting the tray on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Well…it never has a consistent effect." Lionel chuckled as he picked up something in the kitchen. He then emerged from the kitchen holding a large pot with a smaller tray balanced on top of it. "But in all seriousness, I told you that Omni-dust, before you're capable of controlling it, is basically a powerful psychoactive drug upon entry to the body. How and why there is a point where the body is capable of turning it from a psychoactive substance into a powerful hunting supplement is currently unknown." He continued as he placed the pot on the coffee table before taking the tray balanced on top and sitting it next to the pot.

"Seriously? We're going to do something that has practically no known mechanism of action?" Weiss stated.

"Yes." Lionel stated as he opened the pot revealing a delicious-looking stir-fry. "Go ahead and grab some food, I feel like we're going to have a lot to talk about…we might as well get comfortable." He finished as he scooped out a large portion of the food for himself. He then uncovered the tray revealing a series of neatly laid eggrolls.

"Then here's my first questions, and probably the most important…what's in this?" Yang asked as she scooped herself out a heaping portion of food.

"Rice, obviously, green and red peppers, peas, carrots, onions, egg, and teriyaki chicken. The eggrolls are made from cabbage, green peppers, onions, mushrooms and egg." Lionel said as though he was completely expecting such a silly question.

"Now that the important stuff is out of the way, on to a more menial conversation." Lionel said with a smirk.

"You're welcome to begin explaining everything. I'll wait until the end to ask my questions." Blake, to which Weiss nodded her head in agreement. Both Ruby and Yang we're already well on their way with eating the food.

"Very well. I'll start with something very important. The saviors." Lionel began, which seemed to attract the attention of all of the girls. "You girls…should know that…" he paused, very painstakingly weighing the pros and cons of revealing such information. "…there is a very high chance that they will appear in this fight with the Alpha." He said after releasing a sigh.

"How do you figure?" Weiss asked while making herself a modest plate of food.

"The Saviors, more or less, are artificial Grimm." Lionel stated which earned quite a confused reaction from Team RWBY. "During the first Grimm War, one of the ways we were attempting to beat the Alpha and his Grimm was to control the Grimm in a manner similar to how the Alpha does, though with artificial means. Ultimately, this turned out to be a failure. Through the process of studying the Grimm, however, we discovered the way in which Grimm reproduce, which is, of course, quite well known today." Lionel explained.

"They don't actually have children, they simply corrupt other normal animals." Blake stated after swallowing her food.

"Correct. And this 'corruption' is carried through their blood, which is why the White Fang needed a series of different types of Grimm DNA to resurrect the Alpha. Put simply, we extracted quite a bit of blood from many different Grimm and purified with, what we would consider today, as a very crude dust purification method. The allowed it to stew in a warm dust bath before sending the blood through the bodies of many volunteers, allowing our own innate auras to destroy as much of the corruption as possible." Lionel explained.

"Did you give this blood to The Saviors?" Weiss asked.

"This blood created The Saviors, actually." Lionel stated. "There were four volunteers, four Knights who took it upon themselves to step into uncharted territory. We injected the blood into their bodies and, at first, they were normal, just like when we sent the blood through the bodies of many people for the purification process. The purification volunteers, however, did not get to experience what it was like for the blood to enter their brain, we didn't allow that during the purification." Lionel said.

"What happened to them?" Ruby asked.

"They went completely psychotic, with incredible power. Since it was Grimm blood, we had prepared for it by having a second injection ready to sedate them. We did just that before locking them in a dungeon as a failed experiment. Then, some time later, maybe a week or two, a dungeon guard's attention was focused entirely on the four volunteers who, at this point, looked to all be meditating in their dungeon. He alerted the Knight-General, who quickly came to questions the four." Lionel explained in between taking bites of his food.

"Did they become superheroes or something?" Yang asked.

"In terms of power, yes. However, their demeanor, their attitudes had completely changed from who they once were. They each seemed to embody one of the four aspects that we attribute to all Hunters, to this day. What does it mean to be a Hunter?" Lionel asked.

"The use of intelligence…" Weiss stated.

"…with the means of justice…" Blake continued.

"…to achieve the goal of peace…" Ruby followed.

"…and the determination to do it." Yang finished.

"Precisely. Intelligence, justice, peace, and determination are the four aspects that every Hunter must be intimately familiar with. And they have their roots directly connected with The Saviors." Lionel said.

"What happened next?" Ruby asked.

"We readmitted them into our forces, and they went on to kill the Alpha. As to how they will appear in this battle after hundreds of years, I believe that those aspects have been passed from Hunter to Hunter throughout the years. In the very same manner that the Alpha had to regain his power since it was scattered throughout the minds of each of the Grimm, I think The Saviors will do the same." Lionel explained.

"You said you had a plan, and a backup plan, right?" Weiss asked.

"I specifically remember adding the words 'sort of' and 'kind of' into that statement." Lionel chuckled. "But, to answer your next question, The Saviors are my plan. My backup plan is for me to take a lethal amount of Omni-dust into my body and take on the Alpha myself, hoping for the best." Lionel explained.

"I don't think the 'kind of' and 'sort of' do the stupidity of your plans justice." Weiss stated coldly.

"I agree. But, it's all that we have to go on right now. Any questions?" Lionel asked.

"I've never like the idea of putting much faith into anyone else besides me and my team. So I'm actually way more interested in this whole Omni-dust thing that about The Saviors." Yang said.

"Me too. This sounds like it's something we should be more concerned about at the immediate moment." Ruby said.

"I'm sure Blake and I both agree with that." Weiss said.

"You still never answer my question from earlier. About the effects of the Omni-dust never being consistent." Blake stated.

"It acts like a powerful psychoactive drug when it is initially introduced into the body. You can have a great time with all of the enhanced happiness, euphoria, and other things that come with it, but, it's so strong that you don't really have much control over your mind. On the other hand, it is quite possible that it will bring forth insecurities and traumas that you've endured throughout your life and make you face them. Since your perception and mood are all enhanced so much on this substance, you won't be able to simply put it at the back of your mind. It's actually quite common that, when things begin to get negative, you will feel that the only way to make it stop is suicide." Lionel explained.

"What the hell?!" Yang asked in surprise.

"That's why I'm going to be watching over each of you throughout the whole thing." Lionel finished.

"How do we make those thoughts stop?" Blake asked.

"You don't. It seems that how your mind reacts to the Omni-dust is different every time. Regardless of the dose, sometimes you'll still be capable of slight coherent thought, and other times you will be at the complete mercy of the Omni-dust. If you're able to still think, even a little, you have to tell yourself that you've taken something and hope that calms you down. To answer your question, though…you simply have to wait it out. That's why I'm going to be here watching over you." Lionel explained.

"Is there any specific method for teaching our body to use the Omni-dust faster? To reduce the potential mental anguish?" Blake asked.

"That's actually something I was going to elaborate on earlier. There is only one reasonable hypothesis for why the psychoactive qualities disappear and how your body begins to use the Omni-dust as a supplement…and it's not even a scientific one. Put simply, a monk from Menagerie stated that the Omni-dust is a 'teacher' but will only give you it's power if it finds you worthy. To be considered worthy, must face your inner demons and beat them." Lionel said.

"So this guy basically said that the worse you feel during this…drug episode, the quicker you are to getting the power?" Blake asked.

"Yes; and though I would personally desire a more substantiated claim to be available, I do certainly see how and why he would think that. Every single person that has undergone this endeavor, regardless of race, gender, species, or any other genetic variable, have all stated that they felt a sense of clarity upon gaining the effects of the Omni-dust. They all feel like they have the answer to the most important questions in the universe…though they can never articulate the 'answers'. Myself included." Lionel stated.

"How long do you think this will take?" Ruby asked.

"The Knights have a month-long program for people who meet the requirements and choose to volunteer for it. Though I'm sure it will take time for the Alpha to build up his forces, I highly doubt we're going to have anywhere close to a month to prepare. We're going to try and have it done in a week's time, but we'll use every moment that we can before the Alpha attacks." Lionel stated.

"You also said that it can feel like much longer than it actually lasts. What did you mean by that?" Weiss asked.

"The substance alters your perception so much that it will slow your 'internal clock' to the point that the amount of time between each inhale and exhale can feel like many years. This is not something that should be taken lightly." Lionel explained.

After a few moments of silence, Ruby looked up to speak. "It's obvious that the experience we'll have cannot be described by using words…so the only question left to ask is when will we begin?" Ruby asked confidently.

"If you're ready for it…then we will begin today. Something that helped me get through it was to go into this experience with a positive mindset. Do anything and everything that will help you relax and be happy. Write me a list of foods you each enjoy to eat, I would also recommend taking a shower and getting in comfortable clothes. Every little detail will change how you'll experience this…so you might as well be happy when you go into it." Lionel stated.

"You know…a shower sounds wonderful." Weiss stated with noticeable exhaustion.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound bad…" Ruby mumbled.

"Rubes, are you still able to track the position of our weapons?" Yang asked.

"Uhh, sure…hold on just a second…" Ruby stated as she began to look for her scroll which was probably thrown to the side of the room with the rest of their equipment. Upon returning to Beacon, Lionel called an immediate meeting between the four headmasters, out of which Haven and Shade did not even bother to attend.

"What does it say?" Yang asked as Ruby turned her scroll on.

"The signal was lost about three hours ago. Let me look up the coordinates…" Ruby said as she quickly began to piece together their weapons' whereabouts.

"Of course…" Lionel said under his breath after his scroll vibrated.

"What's up?" Yang asked.

"The headmasters of Haven and Shade academy are filing for a void to the Knight-Remnant act. How childish…" Lionel explained.

"What would that even solve?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing. They're using the excuse of 'a lack of evidence' to void the Knight's conscription of the four kingdoms. In actuality, they don't want to be under someone else's control." Lionel explained.

"What can be done about it?" Blake asked.

"The Knight residing within the kingdoms are going to counter them in court, but, ultimately, they're just going to buy time. Even during the court process, their militaries are still under our control. All we need to do is keep them from voiding it until the Alpha attacks, then they'll have all the proof they need." Lionel stated confidently.

"It's unfortunate that we have to resort to treating them like children." Weiss stated.

"I found it, guys…" Ruby said. "The signal disappeared at Mount Kuana in Menagerie." Ruby said.

"Yes. There's a massive White Fang base there…their Central Headquarters." Blake stated.

"They have their headquarters on top of a mountain?" Yang asked.

"No, the mountain is their headquarters. Over the years, they've turned it into an almost completely hollow base. It's very well fortified, has a significant number of forces guarding it, and one of the largest cities, Kuo Kuana, is placed next to it." Blake explained.

"I assume the base being next to a large city isn't just for the good view, right?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, they're basically using the people there as a shield." Blake confirmed.

"All the more reason to get this show on the road." Yang said.

"Indeed. But, a shower first." Weiss said as she began to walk into the hall. "Klein is on his way with some of our more relaxing clothes." She finished after walking around the corner.

"When did you even contact him?" Yang asked as she followed behind.

"I would also ask that, but I really don't care." Blake said as she began to walk back toward the hall.

"I'll be in there in just a minute." Ruby said as she ran up to Lionel who was still texting on his scroll, presumably making sure that his Knights had the correct instructions.

"What can I do?" Lionel said after noticing that Ruby was patiently waiting for him to finish. She said nothing as she embraced him in a bear-hug rivaling her sister's. "Are you trying to kill me?" He coughed out jokingly.

"I'm glad you're okay." Ruby said as she jumped back.

"I'm glad you four could see through the message I sent to Ozpin." Lionel stated as Ruby made her way toward the hall. He walked through his kitchen and into the den; connected to the side of the room was a door with a staircase leading down.

He slowly made his way down the stairs revealing what looked, at first glance, to be yet another living room. Upon closer inspection, the first difference that is noticed is the fact that the walls are completely sound-proofed. There are a series of cameras that, to the untrained eyes, would simply look like normal everyday décor. There were vents and sprinklers, that were just as well very hidden from the untrained eye, that were in place in the case of a fire. Overall, the room looked like a place to relax, though it was quite obviously meant for someone, who was not in their right state of mind, to relax in.

He closed the door back, went back up the stairs and closed his eyes. All of the memories and feelings from his time learning to use the Omni-dust came rushing back into his head. Tears began to roll down his eyes, something he would otherwise never let anyone see. "The feeling of enduring it is the worst thing you'll ever experience, but the feeling of overcoming it is the best. You four will thank me for this…I swear." He muttered to himself as the tears continued to fall.


	41. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

* * *

"What do you think is going to happen?" Yang asked as she and her team walked down the hall after taking their respective showers.

"From what he described…or rather, what he says he is unable to describe, it sounds like it will be profound." Blake stated.

"I'm kind of scared…but at the same time, I'm curious about it." Ruby added.

"I believe I'm inclined to agree." Weiss said.

"That doesn't answer my question." Yang said jokingly.

"I don't think you'll find an answer until we actually give it a try." Blake stated. As they emerged from the hallway, into the living room that they had previously eaten in, Lionel wasted no time to begin. He slowly paced up to the girls and held his hand in front of them; on his palm laid a single syringe, about the size of an insulin syringe with the exception of the incredibly long needle.

"Are you sure about this?" Lionel asked with his hand extended for them to see.

"What is there to be sure of? You didn't exactly give us a lot to go on." Weiss said.

"Valid point. Though I trust you four are fully aware of what you're doing?" Lionel assured.

"You said that we would be taking this stuff and that it's going to suck until we learn to use it?" Yang asked.

"It might suck…the best way that I can put it is that it will be completely different from anything you can currently comprehend." Lionel stated.

"When you say that it alters our perception…do you mean it will do so completely?" Blake asked.

"Everyone reacts differently, but that is more-or-less correct. The best I can do is give you a simplistic run-down of my experiences." Lionel stated.

"Why are you just know suggesting this? Anything, I'm sure, would be helpful." Ruby said.

"Because what you will experience is so foreign that words cannot do it justice. What I'm about to ay will likely be almost entirely unhelpful." Lionel countered.

"Let's at least hear it, I guess." Yang said as she took a seat on the arm of the couch.

Lionel leaned against the window seal as he contemplated his thoughts. "Since, at this stage, it acts like a psychoactive drug I will use the same terminology that a drug would have. It will be administered intramuscularly, so the onset will be faster, though, due to the chemistry of Omni-dust, it will still take up to thirty minutes to feel any effects. The basic signs of onset are, generally, slightly increased heart rate, increased sensitivity in various parts of the body, and a very quiet, wondering mind." Lionel began.

"How do you mean increased sensitivity?" Weiss asked.

"Well, for me, it was most noticeable in my teeth. During the onset, I find that any cold temperatures or pressures placed against my teeth are much more noticeable." Lionel explained.

"From what you said earlier, I was thinking that my mind would be going crazy. But it starts off calm?" Yang asked.

"That's correct. You may find yourself not talking, or even not paying attention to the conversation at all. There were many instances when myself, and the group I was experimenting with, would be speaking as we waited for it to begin. On more than one occasion, we would be talking with one another and someone would just zone out. We would only notice when we explicitly spoke to that person to get their attention." Lionel stated in a half joking tone.

"You had a team?" Ruby asked.

"Not a team, per se…but we were friends." Lionel said quietly. "However, I digress…after the onset will be the come-up. During this time the actual psychoactive effects will begin to take effect and get progressively stronger for about two hours. The come-up might be slightly uncomfortable; as your perceptions are altered, your body will react accordingly. Your body will feel very heavy, which is usually accompanied by a very pleasant sense euphoria and relaxation…enjoy it while you can. Your body will not be able to regulate the feeling of temperature so becoming uncomfortably hot or cold is also common." Lionel explained.

"How much can our temperature regulate?" Blake asked.

"I said 'the feeling of temperature'. Your core body temperature doesn't actually fluctuate, but you may still feel incredibly cold or hot. I need you four to understand that everything I have said or will say about this subject is subjective. It is altogether possible for you to have a very pleasant or miserable time during the come-up." Lionel stated.

"You said that some people actually enjoy what happens to them, is that correct? But you also said that the 'best' way to get through this is to face your insecurities or personal problems. How do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"It's not that some people necessarily enjoy it…it's just that some are better capable of dealing with their inner demons than others. Or, perhaps, some people just have worse things about themselves that they have to deal with. Regardless of how you personally feel about the experience, make no mistake that it will be difficult and very time-consuming." Lionel stated.

"What happens after we get those body feelings? Does the intense stuff start spontaneously, or will it work its way up?" Ruby asked.

"It will slowly get stronger. Just because this is called the 'come-up' doesn't mean that you have time to get ready. I said that it can take up to two hours for the effects to fully present themselves, though, long before the effects are at their peak, you will already be fighting inside your mind." Lionel stated.

"Okay, so the bodily sensations represent the beginning of this experience. What happens next?" Weiss asked.

"Those were simply the physical effects which generally subside after the effects have peaked. The real actual effects will be based upon the cognitive and perceptual alterations. First and foremost, you will notice visual distortions overlaying, and eventually, completely encompassing your entire visual field." Lionel stated clearly.

"I beg your pardon? What do you mean 'completely encompassing' and how are we supposed to get around if we can't see?" Weiss asked defensively.

"You won't be moving around. Omni-dust has a very sedating effect on the body at these doses. Deep relaxation will likely be one of the first things you feel. When you first feel it, you will simply not want to move…as the experiences progresses, it will change to a complete inability to move your body. Trust me when I say that this is for the best; you don't want to be moving around with what will be going on in your mind." Lionel answered.

"Am I the only one here getting strangely excited for this?" Yang asked half-sarcastically.

"I sensed a bit hesitation in there." Blake said.

"The more I think about it, it does sound scary, but also really…different." Yang said with a small grin.

"That sounds just like you." Ruby said with a giggle.

"Going into it with a happy mind certainly can't hurt, just make sure you don't try to impose your own thoughts onto the experience. You NEED to let the Omni-dust do what it needs to." Lionel warned.

"Noted. What happens after that?" Yang stated in a mocking stern tone.

"I'll start with the perceptual changes. Firstly, it is quite possible to experience synesthesia." Lionel said.

"Question." Ruby said as she raised her hand.

"Synesthesia means the mixing of the senses." Lionel said with a chuckle before Ruby lowered her hand. "Put simply, you might smell colors and see sounds, among other things." He stated.

"That sounds so cool." Ruby said in a half-whisper.

"Which senses get mixed up can change throughout the experience. That covers multi-sensory changes so I'll move onto visual changes next. I said earlier that the distortions can basically dissolve everything in your field of vision. It is basically an infinitely intricate set of geometric patterns that start by simply overlaying everything you look at. It will slowly get stronger until its overlaps everything you see and, eventually, they will be so strong that everything you see will dissolve into a sea of geometric patterns." Lionel explained.

"Geometry? Like squares and triangles?" Ruby said.

"There will probably be some of those, but the geometry is not limited to perfectly straight and even sides and corners. They will be infinitely intricate so there is no telling what you'll see. It might even look like there aren't any corners to the geometry and may appear fluid. Another thing that happens is pattern recognition will be greatly enhanced. You will eventually believe that the geometry is a landscape, ocean, or the sky and space at some point. Some of the geometry might even appear to take on the shape of a humanoid being. You may even begin speaking to it as well…" Lionel trailed off.

"We're going to be talking to...things...inside of our heads?" Weiss asked.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Blake asked.

"As I said before, there has not been a single case of someone having returned being mentally impaired. Not once." Lionel reassured them.

"Will these things be our inner demons? I need to know what to punch." Yang inquired.

"Like I said, don't impose your thoughts onto the experience. You won't have to fight anything; you'll simply have to deal with whatever is being shown. As to how you're supposed to deal with it…well, you know when you get there." Lionel stated cryptically.

"I would say that's not helpful at all…but I'm sure you know that already." Weiss said.

"I do. Moving on; there will be changes to your other senses, but they can be described as being purely hallucinated. Anything you feel, smell, taste, or hear inside there will be as a result of whatever is occurring in your mind." Lionel said.

"We can feel what happens to us?" Blake asked.

"Yes. Often times, these experiences are difficult not because of what you will be shown, but because of how you have to deal with it. For example, if someone physically hurt you in the past, then that person may very well appear during this experience. Finding a way to resolve your issues can be difficult when you can't fight or run away." Lionel said.

"I though fight and flight was the only two options? What do we do?" Yang asked.

"You'll know when the time comes." Lionel said with a dissatisfied look on his face. "I wish I could give you a better answer, but I can't." he finished.

"Anything else? If not, what are the cognitive effects?" Weiss asked, changing the subject.

"That's really what draws everything together. It's easy to think, now, that you won't really believe what happens when you experience it. Trust me, you will believe every second of what occurs. Believability is one of the major cognitive effects, the other is time distortion. It may feel like years, decades even when you come back, but it will probably have only been a few hours. Another major cognitive effect is conscious-dissociation. During the experience, you will not know who or what you are; you will not know where or when you are; you will not know why you are there." Lionel explained.

"It sounds like you want us to solve an equation without giving us the variables…or the metrics." Blake said.

"…or the equation." Weiss finished.

"I know, and I'm sorry. Is there anyone who wants to back out?" Lionel asked.

"I can't believe we're going into this basically blind. I haven't even been able to find any information about this whole experiment, even with my company's network." Weiss stated in annoyance.

"Is that a no?" Lionel asked.

"I'm game." Yang said.

"Me too." Ruby stated.

"I feel like they didn't quite understand everything you said, which is adding them in their decision making. But, I'll do it as well." Blake stated.

"Fine. But you own us." Weiss stated.

"If we beat the Alpha, I'm going to give you four literally anything you want." Lionel stated. "Are we ready?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Yes." Ruby said.

"Follow me." Lionel said as he began making his way through the manor to a set of stairs.

"What's down here?" Yang asked upon their arrival.

"The room you will be in during this experience." Lionel said.

"Any particular reason why there's a specific room for this?" Blake asked as they begin to go down the stairs.

"Screaming, both in the good and bad sense, are common, so I wanted a place where you won't bother anyone. It just evolved from there; I also wanted it to be perfectly safe. The room has a very accurate temperature sensor to keep it as comfortable as possible. There are no electrical outlets and all of the electronics have wires that go directly into the wall. The wall in very strong, insulated, and soundproof. There is a living area, a kitchen, a bathroom and a large bedroom with enough space for four people." Lionel explained after opening the door.

"It smells so good." Ruby said as she explored the room.

"I did everything I could to make it as comfortable as possible." Lionel said.

"I can see the poorly hidden cameras. What are they for?" Blake asked.

"I won't be in here for the sake of you mistaking me as an enemy and making your experience worse. I will be making sure you're okay with the cameras, though there isn't much concern…it's just a precaution." Lionel said as each of the ladies took a seat on the couch.

"For as long as your capable of remaining coherent, there's a TV and some video games in here. There's plenty of water in the mini fridge right here." Lionel said as he pointed to the mini-fridge that was built into the coffee table. "There are some snacks, but I would avoid food since nausea is a possibility. I will have some food ready for you when you come back." He finished.

"Speaking of which…" Ruby said as she pulled out a sheet of paper from her pocket. "Here's that list of food you wanted." She said.

"Thank you. I will have someone run to the store and I'll make sure you have some good food when I see you again." Lionel said as each of the girls grabbed a pillow and blanket with were neatly folded on the couch. "Those are to at least help with the temperature…if you need it." He stated.

"Thank you…any other advice before we go under?" Yang asked.

"Sorry. No." Lionel said as each of the girls looked to one another.

Ruby sighed. "Then I guess there's no time to waste." She said.

"Speaking for the team? Such a good leader." Yang joked.

"Are you all ready?" Lionel asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be." Weiss said.

"Get comfortable…" Lionel said as he pulled out four syringes. Yang took no time curling up as she faced the TV.

"Let's do this." She said as she pulled her arm out from under the blanket.

"Next." Lionel said.

"That was it?" Yang asked in a bland tone.

"The needle doesn't hurt…that would just be cruel." Lionel said as he stuck the needle into Blake's arm next. Blake took the time to sit next to Yang before taking part of her blanket and covering herself with it.

"We should do this more often." Yang joked as she turned on the TV before looking to Blake.

"No needles next time." Blake said as she continued facing the TV.

"Alright…all done." Lionel said as he pulled the needle from Ruby's arm.

"You already did Weiss? Wow, you're good at this…she hates needles." Yang said.

"Shut up, you brute." Weiss said as she and Ruby got into the same position as Blake and Yang on the other side of the couch.

"Okay…I'm heading out. If you need anything before the effects take place, just say it. I'll hear you." Lionel said as he pointed to the cameras.

"Will do." Ruby said.

"Good luck, ladies." Lionel said as he walked out of the room. He stopped after closing the door and waited for several minutes before continuing up the stairs. "You'll need it." He finished as he took his first step up the stairs.


	42. Chapter 41: Yang

**Chapter 41**

 **Yang Xiao Long**

* * *

" _It feels like this stuff should put me to sleep before it has any effect…_ " Yang thought as she looked around to her teammates. " _…but, there's no way I could fall asleep with my mind racing like this._ " She finished. Her teammates, still in much the same position as earlier, seemed to be zoned out while they watched the television. The sedating effects of the substance seemed to be clearly present as each of the girls yawned and were arranged in the most comfortable position they could.

" _We all fell asleep after we returned to Beacon, so none of us should actually be this tired…How long has it been?_ " Yang thought as she looked at the digital clock which read 10:30 am and 14 seconds. The clock also kept diligent track of the seconds as they passed. " _Almost an hour since he gave us the Omni-dust. We should be feeling something, but I feel tired more than anything else._ " She continued as she glanced away from the television to the carpet. Yang suddenly began to drift off into a trance-like state as she stared at the carpet intently. Slowly, the carpet began to rise and fall as though one was looking at a waterbed.

" _I guess things are starting…_ " Yang thought as she looked away to the ceiling which was completely white. She, however, saw the vague beginnings of the visual distortions occurring. The visuals looked incredibly intricate, just as Lionel had stated. " _He said I wouldn't be able to describe this…but they look like a bunch of flowers mushed together so you can't see past them. And they're flowing to beautifully…_ " she thought as she continued to stare at the ceiling.

" _What was some of the other stuff he said? Sensitivity; check. Tired; check. Visuals; check. What else did he say? Believability; no I'm not quite there yet…I'm still aware that this is the Omni-dust. He said something about time distortion, but I just looked at the clock a moment ago and it was 10:30._ " Yang said as she slowly reconnected her eyes with the clock. She couldn't read what it said. "What time is it?" She asked slowly in a quiet tone.

"Don't worry…keeping track will only make it more stressful…" Blake slowly mumbled as she glanced at the clock on the wall.

" _Why does he have a clock in a different language?_ " Yang asked herself as she looked back at the ceiling again to see the previous visuals were significantly more pronounced. The visuals were in much the same patterns but looked as though they were coming out of the ceiling and getting closer to her.

She moved her head again to the carpet which was, at this point, moving wildly, even though she felt immensely calm. As she focused on the carpet, she began to notice that the visuals were still in the shape as the one on the ceiling, though they were affecting the carpet differently. Each individual thread within the carpet looked like it was moving independently from the rest, but it all flowed together so perfectly.

" _Damn, that looks so pretty._ " Yang thought as she looked back at the clock once again, by pure instinct. " _Wow, that's dumb. Why can't he have a normal clock, I can't figure out what time it is._ " She thought as she looked back to the carpet to her left, only to have her attention take a detour.

"Hey, Little Dragon. What's the problem?" Tai asked as he saw her daughter's annoyance.

"I don't know what time it is and I can't use that clock up there." Yang stated.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked as he pressed a button on her scroll, which was placed on a nightstand next to her.

Yang slowly sat up from her bed and managed to look at her scroll which read 8:00 am. "That's kind of weird…" she mumbled.

"Well, it's time for you to get ready. Are you just going to skip your hunt today?" Tai asked as he began walking out of her room.

"Oh, yeah…" Yang muttered as she examined her bedroom. She didn't notice anything all too different, so she proceeded to take a look outside her window. As her fingers slid in between the curtain to pull it apart. Beyond her crystal clear room was an infinite sea of rotating geometric shapes with no clear end. The shapes moved in a way that can only be described as immensely calm. She closed the curtains and proceeded to get herself out of bed. "I hope Ruby got enough sleep for the hunt today." Yang said as she began her morning ritual of showering, getting dressed, and eating breakfast.

"Good morning! How're you feeling?" Ruby said as she finished eating her meal.

"Hey, Rubes! I had some weird déjà vu during my shower, but I'm good. Ready for today?" Yang asked as she pulled out a blender for her morning protein shake.

"Of course! The ships are going to be here to pick us up soon." Ruby said as she drank the rest of her milk.

"Does everyone have what they need for today?" Weiss asked from Ruby's right.

"When did you get here?" Yang asked as she glanced across the cafeteria table at her teammate.

"I just went to put away my dirty tray…I haven't been gone for that long." Weiss said.

"Oh…I must still be a little tired." Yang said before she looked down at the cafeteria table only to see a filled blender in front of here while everyone else had a tray of food.

"You going to drink that?" Blake asked from Yang's left side.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about today." Yang said as she poured the liquid out of the blender into a cup sitting on the table.

"At least it's a good day outside, right?" Ruby inquired making small talk.

Yang finished with a drink of her protein shake and looked toward the windows. The outside looked much the same as before except the feeling had more anxiety embedded with the calmness than before and it looked as though it was leaking into her immediate surrounding. Every surface that she looked at, from a wall to her teammates' face, had a very pronounced visual distortion. Yang perceived these distortions as simply being inconveniences to her vision, but did not see them as being out of the ordinary. The distortions look like a multitude of different lines connected in the most intricate way, but they moved too fast to make out any known shape. The movement of these visuals can only be described as highly digital in their movements.

"It's a good enough day for hunting…" Yang stated.

"Well, you'd better hurry and finish your drink." Blake said as she continued to check her weapons for any faults.

"Yeah, I know." Yang said as she downed the rest of her drink and put the cup to her side. She checked her gauntlets to make sure they were loaded and cocked before going through her supplies on more time. Occasionally she would look outside of the airship only to be introduced to an increasing intensity of the situation. The visuals seemed to get stronger every time she looked at them, though she was still under the impression that they were normal.

"Five minutes out." Qrow called out from the pilot's seat.

"Are you gals ready?" Yang asked only to hear no response. She turned her head to the left to see nothing but a seemingly endless sea of calm, flower-like visuals. "Guys?" she asked with an intrepid tone.

"Yang?" a voice called out very faintly. Her name echoed throughout the endless reality of visuals that she was currently inhabiting. A massive, horizontal line appeared, in the center of her visual field, which slowly opened completely destroying the visual field she was seeing.

"Yang?" The voice called again which seemed to give the horizontal opening even more strength than it previously had. Finally, the line completely opened revealing her teammates lying on the couch much as they were before. Suddenly, a rush of memories entered her head; she remembered that she had been administered Omni-dust and the purpose of this experience.

"Damn…that's some crazy stuff…but not really all he hyped it up to be…" Yang slowly mumbled.

"What do you mean…?" Blake asked from her side. Blake had taken to wrapping her arms around Yang's stomach and lying her head against Yang's breast.

"This Omni-dust can be really crazy…I thought I was somewhere else…" Yang stated as clearly as she could from her drowsy state.

"I don't think it's over yet…" Blake said in a confused tone.

"How do you know there's more?" Yang asked as she took a drink of water.

Blake slowly raised her body from Yang's to look at the clock on the wall. "Yang…you should probably look at the clock again…" Blake stated as she returned to her more comfortable position around her girlfriend.

Yang took a moment to respond to her partner's words, as was normal at the moment, but she eventually was capable of moving her head to the position of the clock. Yang's eyes went wide as she examined the clock; it read 10:30 and 32 seconds. "What the fuck…?" Yang whispered to herself.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked with her eyes closed as she rested her head on Ruby's shoulder.

"I saw Yang with a pained expression on her face and called out to her." Ruby explained. "I think the Omni-dust is affecting her faster than us…" she said quiet enough for only herself and Weiss to hear.

"Oh, shit…" Yang stated as her head fell back against the couch.

"Don't worry, Yang…I'll be right here with you the whole time." Blake said through Yang's grunts and moans of anguish.

"I'll be good. I can handle this. I know he wouldn't put us through this unless he believed that we were strong enough…so I'm going to get through it." Yang said confidently as she tried to raise her head back.

"Yang, don't fight it." Blake said as she placed her hand on Yang's cheek. "He said to let happen whatever is going to happen." She finished.

"I feel like it's trying to pull my soul out of my body…it's getting stronger every second." Yang stated.

"If you don't mind my asking…what do you feel right now?" Weiss asked as she opened one eye.

"Right now…like I have to do something I really don't want to do. He wasn't kidding; when you find yourself losing so much of your mind, all you want to do is hold onto your thoughts." Yang explained.

"That makes it more difficult." Blake said.

"I know." Yang said slowly.

"What do you mean when you say 'lose your mind'?" Weiss asked. When a reply didn't come quickly she continued, "…but if you'd rather not say, I understand."

"No…losing it isn't the right thing to say. It's moving too fast. A million thoughts run by in a moment and everything feels more sensitive. Sound, vision, smell…" Yang said before trailing off in the end.

"That might be why time is so distorted; if you have 'a million' thoughts in the same amount of time you would normally only have ten-or-so, then it seems like time is going by slower to your brain." Weiss explained, in an exhausted tone, before looking at Yang for a response.

Yang's chest slowly rose and fell with each individual breath; it was obvious she was out cold from how shallow her breaths are. " _Who's there?_ " Yang yelled into an infinite darkness.

A series of meaningless syntax was the only response.

" _I can't understand you? Where are you? Come out!_ " Yang demanded. As soon as her intentions were made clear, unbearable fear and anguish soon washed over her body. She fell to her knees as tears began to run down the side of her cheeks.

" _You will listen._ " An ominous voice called out.

" _I…will…listen._ " Yang repeated without hesitation. The overwhelming feelings quickly subsided allowing her to stand once again. " _Why did I give in so fast?_ " Yang thought.

" _Because you understand that you have no control here._ " The voice called out.

" _How did you hear me?_ " Yang yelled before realizing that she had not even opened her mouth.

" _Verbalization is for naught here. You cannot use it._ " The voice called out.

" _What am I doing here? Who are you?_ " Yang asked.

" _You are here of your own volition. We are one and the same._ " The voice called out.

" _That doesn't make any sense. And I definitely didn't come here on my own._ " Yang countered.

" _You did, however. Now, we must speak._ " The voice called out as the darkness gave way to a sea of visuals once again. The visuals, after encompassing everything within view, slowly began to forms different structures and models. It eventually looked like a perfectly symmetrical landscape using only the most digital and fractal shapes one could think of.

"Yang!" a voice yelled from behind her. As Yang turned to see who it was, she was delighted when she saw her younger sister. Ruby quickly jumped into her arms and they both embraced in a bear hug.

" _I'm glad you're here; I thought I was going crazy._ " Yang stated.

" _I assure you that is not the case, but you may very well disagree for the time being._ " The voice called out from below her. She looked down to her sister to see that same digitalized fractals making up the model of her sister. Yang let go and stepped backward as the fractal pieces of her sister began to shatter and fall right in front of her eyes.

" _Ruby_ " Yang yelled as she ran toward her in an effort to save her sister. As soon as her hand made contact with Ruby, her body shattered into thousands of pieces.

" _Who are you? Son of a bitch…I'll kill you!_ " Yang asserted before the familiar sensation came back to her. The unparalleled fear and anguish seemed to start out of nowhere and, once again, brought her to her knees. " _Fuck you!_ " she yelled through the tears.

The sensation slowly came to an end which eventually allowed her to open her eyes. She opened them only to be met with the sight of her teammates, her friends, body's hanging from the ceiling. The bodies were mangled, disfigured, and completely unrecognizable without the clothes. Yang couldn't even bring herself to cry or scream as she stared in shock.

" _I could have saved them…_ " she mumbled.

" _Why do you care?_ " The voice asked.

" _I'm supposed to be there for them!_ " Yang yelled in reply.

" _No; only real hunters care about their comrades. You said it yourself: 'You want a life in which you won't know what the next day will bring'. You don't give a damn about these people or the good of Remnant's citizens._ " The voice stated mockingly.

" _No. NO! You're wrong!_ " Yang yelled as she gripped the side of her head.

"Yang…" a second voice celled out meekly.

Yang looked up to see the body of her sister, barely alive, raising its' arm to Yang. She quickly rushed to the body, which was still hanging from the ceiling. Upon arrival, she tried to grab Ruby's hand, but it fell lifeless before she had the chance.

" _No…_ " she mumbled as footsteps approached her from behind. She turned her head to be greeted by a black, shadowy figure that still somehow looked familiar to her.

" _You don't care…you never cared._ " The figure said. It was the same voice that had been calling out this entire time.

Yang was enraged, but, like an abused puppy, she didn't move an inch lest she get attacked by the terrible emotions again. " _Go away._ " Yang said as she turned her head back to her teammates before closing her eyes.

" _Make me._ " The entity said smugly.

Yang swallowed slowly, completely ignoring the entity behind her. "I love you, guys." She said. "I love you so much, Rubes…I love you, Kitty…and I love you, Ice Queen." She stated slowly. Yang opened her eyes to be met with a field beautiful, white, chrysanthemums. She stood up, looking around as she rose up, finally noticing a girl, behind her, facing away.

"Hey!" Yang said as she walked up to the girl. "Can you give me a hand?" she asked as she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

The girl turned around; It was Yang. This Yang had her standard outfit on and was standing next to Bumblebee with her helmet under her arm. The original Yang looked down to examine her body and the clothes that she had on. She looked to her right and saw another Bumblebee as realized she was holding onto her helmet too. They were mirrored with one another, the only difference between the two being the color of their eyes. The original Yang's eyes were their normal lilac while the other Yang's were red.

"It's your fault, you know." The red-eyed Yang said.

The lilac-eyed Yang slowly exhaled before putting her helmet onto the bike's seat, to which the red-eyed Yang mirrored perfectly. "No, it's not." The lilac-eyed Yang said.

"They're dead because you weren't good enough to help them." The red-eyed Yang stated before the lilac-eyed yang quickly activated her gauntlets and fired at the other. Just as with the helmet, the mirror copy of her did the same thing at the exact same time. They were both knocked back onto their backs and slid quite a bit. "Try as you might, it will –"

The red-eyed Yang was cut off by laughter. "I called it." The lilac-eyed Yang said as she raised her head to meet the other. "You aren't the enemy…you're me. Or the bad me, I guess." She finished with a laugh before jumping back to her feet.

"Indeed. It seems you still haven't learned…" the red-eyed Yang said as she focused her gaze upon the original. After a moment of nothing occurring, she stepped back in annoyance.

"Having trouble?" The lilac-eyed Yang mocked.

The fake Yang was enraged, "Listen to me you –"

"Shut up." The original said. "You're just one of my vices. Get out of my face so I can move on with this shit…" she said with confidence. Much like before, a massive horizontal line began to break apart everything in her visual field; the other Yang was gone and only a feeling of euphoria was left as her vision was destroyed by said horizontal line.

Yang's eyes opened, once again, to reveal her teammates to be in much the same shape as her; comfortably sitting on a couch. She looked at the clock, once again, and was relieved when she saw 1:47 and 52 seconds upon it.

"That was too easy…" she said as she looked around the room. After taking a much-needed drink of her water, she quickly noticed the visuals getting stronger once again.

" _Damn…here we go again._ " She thought as her mind began racing again. Her head fell back to the couch before she awoke in another strange place.

" _How did I get here…?_ " Yang thought as she began to walk throughout her new reality.

* * *

As Yang's head fell back against the couch again, Lionel took another sip of his coffee. He was watching the entire ordeal through the cameras in the room. "Sorry, kiddo. I've never met a person with only one vice. You just have to keep going back until you come to terms with all of them." He said to himself as he kept a close eye on the vitals of each of the girls.


	43. Chapter 41: Ruby

**Chapter 41**

 **Ruby Rose**

* * *

Author's Note: I know that this chapter is a bit shorter and for that, I do apologize. Every so often, things do tend to get a little hectic in my life and i had to take a bit of extra time at school to ensure my grades don't suffer. Otherwise, I should have everything back on schedule next week. As always, I appreciate all the reviews I get and I am still amazed at how many people like reading this little fic of mine. Thank you all so much for reading!

* * *

"Don't worry…keeping track will only make it more stressful…" Blake mumbled as she glanced behind me for a mere second.

" _I guess Yang must be getting hit hard already._ " Ruby thought as she focused on rubbing Weiss' hair. Weiss had taken to lying her head on Ruby's lap as the young leader slowly glided her fingers through her partner's hair.

Ruby looked up to see her sister with a rather pained expression written on her face. Her body was fine, at least she assumed since Blake had not noticed anything, but her face was moving as though she was having a horrific nightmare. "Yang?" Ruby asked with a slight crack in her voice.

Yang's head seemed to jolt slightly but remained mostly unresponsive. "Yang?" Ruby asked with a louder voice. Finally, she managed to open her eyes, but looked around the room in complete confusion.

"Damn…that's some crazy stuff…but not really all he hyped it up to be…" Yang said in a dazed state. Ruby was relieved that her sister wasn't having too much of a horrible time.

"What do you mean…?" Blake inquired.

"This Omni-dust can be really crazy…I thought I was somewhere else…" Yang informed them while still putting the pieces together herself.

"I don't think it's over yet…" Blake stated as she turned her head to look at Yang, who was still very much enthralled by the room around her.

"How do you know there's more?" Yang asked as she managed to find her glass of water to take a drink.

The look on Blake's face clearly meant she was beginning to question whether or not she was being affected by the Omni-dust more than Yang. She picked her body up slowly and looked at the clock on the wall before returning to her recent position at Yang's bosom. "Yang…you should probably look at the clock again…" she stated as she reclaimed her position next to Yang.

After Yang had finally managed to look at the clock, she was astounded by what she was seeing. "What the fuck…?" She whispered.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked from Ruby's side; she was laying her head on the young leader's shoulder.

"I saw Yang with a pained expression on her face and called out to her." Ruby answered. "I think the Omni-dust is affecting her faster than us…" she finished by trailing off at the end.

"Oh, shit…" Yang stated as her head involuntarily fell back against the couch.

"Don't worry, Yang…I'll be right here with you the whole time." Blake said as she placed her hand around her partner's in an attempt to calm her down.

"I'll be good. I can handle this. I know he wouldn't put us through this unless he believed that we were strong enough…so I'm going to get through it." Yang growled through clenched teeth.

"Yang, don't fight it." Blake said as she placed her hand on Yang's cheek. "He said to let happen whatever is going to happen." She finished in a calming and serene tone.

"I feel like it's trying to pull my soul out of my body…it's getting stronger every second." Yang moaned.

"If you don't mind my asking…what do you feel right now?" Weiss asked from Ruby's side; her voice was sincere. " _We're all in this together, I guess…_ " Ruby thought as a response.

"Right now…like I have to do something I really don't want to do. He wasn't kidding; when you find yourself losing so much of your mind, all you want to do is hold onto your thoughts." Yang clearly stated as she clenched her eyes shut and squeezed the armrest of the couch.

"That makes it more difficult." Blake said trying to reduce Yang's anxiety.

"I know…" Yang mumbled as a single tear ran down her cheek.

"What do you mean when you say 'lose your mind'?" Weiss asked, gaining her partner's attention. When a reply didn't come quickly she continued, "…but if you'd rather not say, I understand." Weiss obviously had a genuine concern for her teammate and friend.

"No…losing it isn't the right thing to say. It's moving too fast. A million thoughts run by in a moment and everything feels more sensitive. Sound, vision, smell…" Yang said before slowing drifting off again, her head slowly coming to a rest atop Blake's head.

"That might be why time is so distorted; if you have 'a million' thoughts in the same amount of time you would normally only have ten-or-so, then it seems like time is going by slower to your brain." Weiss informed.

"Well, it's been about ten seconds and she hasn't said anything. I think she'll be gone for a while this time." Blake said in a purposely failed attempt at humor.

"I hope she'll be alright…though I suppose if any of us were going to have problems, she'd be the last one on the list." Weiss said as she lowered her head back to Ruby's shoulder only to be surprised by the chill her body was giving off.

Ruby was adjusting her blanket once again as to try and remain comfortable during the come-up. "I'm getting really exhausted…" Ruby said as she finished adjusting the blanket once again.

"Any noticeable visual changes yet?" Weiss asked.

"Without a doubt." Ruby said as she examined the room.

"Are you able to describe it?" Weiss asked.

"They almost look like flowers…" Ruby said before slowly closing her eyes. "Wow." She gasped.

"What is it?" Weiss asked.

"It's like there's a movie behind my eyelids. It's so beautiful." Ruby explained in awe.

"It might be starting to hit you next…" Weiss stated.

"What?" Ruby asked quietly.

"I said you might be the next person who gets affected." Weiss repeated, receiving silence as the answer. Weiss looked to her partner only to see her face pointing upward and her chest rising and falling ever so slowly. "Best of luck…" Weiss mumbled.

* * *

" _What a beautiful view!_ " Ruby thought as she gazed out at an incredibly vast tunnel which she was flying through. She examined her surroundings to be met with a seemingly infinite manifestation of flowing geometric patterns. They looked amazingly digital in their movements but remained calm in how pronounced they were.

Upon exiting the tunnel, Ruby was immediately greeted with the sight of many different people, or what she considered to be people. They consisted solely of rotating fractal shapes that still managed to fit together like Lego pieces. " _They seem like they're really nice…_ " Ruby thought as she ran up to them. As soon as she made it close enough to speak with them, they had suddenly teleported farther away.

She looked around to after sensing something was amiss. It was now that she noticed the massive hole in the sky. " _I wonder if that is the tunnel I came out of?_ " Ruby thought before bringing her thoughts back down to the people she was running toward. They were even farther away than before she looked at the tunnel.

As she was getting closer, she saw a massive cloud coming toward the people in the distance. Just as before, every time she managed to reach the people they would teleport farther away but the cloud continued to loom closer and closer.

" _Guys! Move!_ " Ruby thought as she ran toward them with increasing fear.

"Why do you care?" One of the voices rang out.

" _Because you haven't done anything wrong!_ " Ruby thought without realizing that she wasn't actually speaking.

"Do not believe for one moment that you care for our sake. You fight to save others so that you will be without guilt." The voice said menacingly.

" _That's not true, I've always tried my best to help people._ " Ruby though frantically as she continued to run toward, just barely missing them every time.

"You fight for the sole purpose of fueling your ego. You take pride in the fact that you are among the youngest at Beacon Academy. You take pride in being chosen as the leader for your team. You take pride in knowing that you were good enough to be chosen by the Knight-General." The voiced growled.

Ruby stopped running and stood silently, thinking of a reasonable counter argument.

"And to top it all off…" a different voice said, though she knew it was the same person talking. Ruby turned around and was faced with a rough and rugged version of herself. They wore the same hunting clothes, but the second Ruby's clothes had clearly seen battle recently. "…you know already. And you like it." She said with a grin.

"That doesn't mean that I don't care about my teammates." Ruby said, speaking the words for the first time.

"Be honest with yourself, every time that something has gone wrong with one of your hunts, what has been the most frustrating thing each time?" The voice asked in faux meekness.

Ruby sighed, "I can honestly say that –"

"No. You can't." The other Ruby interrupted. "During the Hunt? You were more defeated by the fact that you weren't a good leader than anything else." The rugged Ruby stated to which the original began to tear up. "Sorry!" The second Ruby yelled sarcastically with a laugh. "I didn't mean to hurt your feeling by laying out your true desires in front of you." She finished with a yell.

After several moments of nothing but laughter, Ruby spoke up. "Listen to me. I care about my teammates…" she started.

"Do you really?" the second asked.

"No. I care about everyone." Ruby yelled causing the second Ruby to be pushed back by the force of her assertiveness. "I get angry about not being a good enough leader to protect them. I already know that I'm prideful about many things, but don't you dare question my love for my friends and the innocent." She yelled, clenching her eyes shut.

As she opened her eyes, she was met with the sight of the people she had been chasing after earlier. They were standing around her before the one in the middle held out their hand. Ruby mirrored the gesture, taking his hand and giving a firm handshake before they disappeared.

Ruby suddenly began to start falling though the fractals she was standing on before reentering the familiar tunnel from earlier. As she fell through the tunnel for what felt like hours, she could feel herself slowly forgetting everything which had just happened to her. Tears began to come to her eyes as her mind was overwhelmed by emotions of joy and happiness. " _I can do this…I don't know why I have to, but I can._ " She thought as she faced forward without fear.


	44. Chapter 41: Weiss

**Chapter 41**

 **Weiss**

* * *

" _Ruby's been out cold for a little while, now…_ " Weiss thought as she anxiously awaited her turn to drift off into hyperspace. She pulled out her scroll and decided to listen to music as her mind silently drifted in and out of 'insanity' as she called it.

" _Could there be a possibility of losing my mind? I know he said that there wasn't any, but I simply cannot believe that a substance which is capable of altering someone's mind so greatly would leave no residual effects._ " Weiss thought as she skipped through songs on her playlist until she found one she liked.

"Looking for something to distract your mind?" Lionel asked.

Weiss closed her eyes due to the effects of the Omni-dust but continued the conversation nevertheless. " _Truthfully? Yes. Even though I know that I probably won't find anything like that._ " She countered.

"Unfortunately, this is something that you simply have to face head on. I assure you that if you continue putting it off, you will regret it." Lionel informed.

Weiss opened her eyes and turned her head to the direction of Lionel's voice as she yelled, "Then what do you propose I do? You never give us any solid information! It's always cryptic warnings and subtle hints! Tell me what I need to do!" Weiss heart skipped a beat as her vision came into focus.

"Just who do you think you're yelling at?" Jacques asked.

"W – what are you doing here?" Weiss stammered around her words.

"I came to see what you've accomplished at this…school." Jacques said with disgust. "Little did I know that sending you here would lead you to become a drug addict. Is this what you do with your free time?" he asked in annoyance.

"N – no, of course not…" Weiss mumbled slowly. "I…am a part of this team…" she said while looking around the room.

"A team with other drug addicts? Is this how you expect to carry on the legacy of the Schnee Dust Company?" Jacques asked in a rage.

"No! I would…never…think of…uh…" Weiss mumbled in confusion. Her mind was, much like Yang had said earlier, was moving too fast for her to stop and speak. Instead of coming up with coherent responses, her mind was erratically going to the worst possible scenario. " _What if I'm not able to come out of this?_ " she thought in fear as she looked around the room.

The outlines of every surface within her field of vision was moving. Not a calm motion like what should be expected, but a restless, angry motion. The visuals had completely engulfed the entire room and, even her teammates, looked as though they were dissolving into this infinite view of fractals.

"Dad…?" Weiss asked as she turned her head back around to where her father had been standing. When she focused on the area, she realized she was staring down one of the halls in her mansion. She began to walk forward, toward the large door at the end of the hall which she was familiar with being her father's office. With each step, she not only noticed her not making any progress toward the door, but she was sure the distance was getting greater.

"Father!" Weiss yelled as she began to run down the hall, once again, making no progress. As her steps grew louder, she could only watch as the door opened to reveal both Jacques and Ironwood stepping out, which subsequently caused her to stop in her tracks.

"Make no mistake, we will be closing our borders. We got off relatively easy during their last attack, but that is only thanks to Ozpin's warning." Ironwood stated.

"You cannot do this! You would be restricting anyone from leaving and ending most forms of trade." Jacques argued.

"That's the point. No one gets in or out without the permission of the council." Ironwood stated.

"What a convenient way of saying 'without YOUR permission.' How long do you think this lunacy will last?" Jacques asked angrily.

"Until such a time that Atlas will be safe. We have got to start treating the White Fang like a threat instated of a group of delinquents." Ironwood stated.

"That doesn't actually answer my question. The money our company makes is a large part of the Atlesian economy; preventing the exportation of my dust is going to hurt you more in the long run." Jacques stated.

"I'm sure we'll manage. As of right now, the only things getting in or out is the mail. And even that is now subject to individual and personal searches." Ironwood said.

Jacques scoffed, "Ironwood, listen to me –"

"Jacques! I didn't come here to ask for your opinion. I was making sure that you knew…this is happening regardless of what you want." Ironwood said assertively, ending the conversation as he walked away.

"Klein!" Jacques called before the named man appeared a few seconds later.

"Yes, sir?" Klein asked.

"I need you to fetch my daughter from Beacon academy." Jacques.

"Whatever for, sir?" Klein asked.

"The General is closing Atlas' borders. I need to make sure she's back home first." Jacques said.

"Of course, sir. She will be delighted at how much you care for her safety." Klein said.

"Just bring her here…" Jacques said as he returned to his office. "…so I can keep an eye on her." he finished.

" _That bastard._ " Weiss thought as she began to walk down the hall once again, this time making actual progress toward the door. Upon reaching where Klein and her father were standing, the door disappeared from the wall.

Weiss scanned across the wall for a logical reason as to why the door would disappear, but only managed to rationalize that it was one of her father's secrets. She turned around to go back the way she came only to be met with the sight of her favorite flower garden from home. She walked through the garden with amazement before reaching a small clearing with a stone circle in the center of it.

Weiss made her way to the center of the circle to find Myrtenaster sitting in the center. As she picked up her blade, a gust of wind flew by her. She quickly blocked a side-swing from another blade with Myrtenaster.

"Winter!" Weiss yelled as she shrugged off her sister's attack.

"I hope you're ready!" Winter yelled as she attacked once again, a flurry of blades, punches, and kicks flying through the air. Weiss was not much better as she attempted to counter-attack, only to be blocked by her sister. In terms of physical skill, Weiss was not too far behind Winter.

Winter raised her blade into the air, summoning a glyph on the ground behind her. From the glyph, a large beast rose from the ground; a Beowolf stood before them as she readied her blade for another assault from Weiss. "Is that all you've got?" Winter asked.

"Not even close." Weiss said as she summoned a glyph of her own, firing three projectiles from it. Each of the projectiles fired toward Winter, who quickly dodged, and attacked.

Weiss managed to keep up with her sister's blows but was having a hard time keeping track of the summoned Beowolf also. She blocked another slash from her sister with Myrtenaster but was flanked by the Beowolf from behind. The beast knocked her to the ground with amazing force.

As Weiss opened her eyes, she felt the familiar sensation of rain landing on her face. She sat up and notice that she was now in the middle of a forest with Grimm circling them from the trees. She quickly jumped up with her weapon ready and notice her unconscious teammates on the ground around her.

Yang had been severely beaten with what looked like a broken leg. Blake had been stabbed by an Ursa, but was not in critical condition, fortunately. Ruby had taken the brunt of the attack by trying to block as much of the Grimm as possible with only her body and Crescent Rose.

Weiss realized that they had been sent on a mission to retrieve a missing prisoner by the name of Cinder Fall. Upon this realization, she finally took notice of a woman watching them from the tree tops. Weiss pulled out her scroll and signaled for an emergency pickup as she prepared herself for more combat.

"I'm not scared of you!" Weiss yelled as she summoned as many glyphs as her strength would allow. She set them up in a circle around her and her teammates before activating them. They acted much like flamethrowers in how they began to burn away the forest from where she was standing; the light rain was unable to keep up with the flames.

Just as fast as they could, the Grimm began to jump across and through the fire, many dying in the process, in order to finish off the attack. Weiss, being exhausted, elected to keep her distance as they attacked by using more glyphs to jump from one area to another. She made sure she kept a reserve of energy left over if any of the Grimm tried to focus on one of her unconscious teammates.

As a Death Stalker managed to make its' way past the fire, it set its' eyes on Yang. Weiss took no time placing a protective glyph above Yang's body, catching the Grimm's stinger. Weiss summoned a second glyph underneath her feet to launch herself toward the beast, which had faltered backward due to the protective glyph next to Yang firing an explosive projectile at the Death Stalker's face. Weiss quickly sliced the stinger off of the beast causing it to enter a state of rage.

" _How much longer?_ " Weiss yelled at the back of her mind. She continued to fight off the Grimm with amazing skill, it being obvious that something else was giving her the energy she needed for the fight. She was, without a doubt, making quick work of the Grimm despite being outrageously outnumbered.

In the distance, Weiss could faintly hear the sound of propellers spinning, which caused her to look at the direction of the noise. "Finally…" Weiss muttered as she continued to attack the Grimm. The fire was beginning to be reduced due to the increased intensity of the rain which, in turn, allowed more Grimm to be able to make it through the barrier she had put up.

She was getting attacked from all sides; a King Taijitu from the back and an Ursa and two Beowolf's from the front, with many more Grimm pouring in from the forest. " _Are you serious right now?_ " Weiss thought as she continued to defend herself and her teammates. Just as she managed to kill the immediate Grimm around her, the rest of the Grimm immediately began to focus on her unconscious teammates.

"No way!" Weiss yelled before jumping closer to her teammates only to be blocked by the forgotten figure of Cinder Fall in front of her. A battle quickly ensued with Cinder having the upper hand; Weiss was exhausted, the protective fire had gone out, the rain was pouring to the point of interfering with her fighting, and she was the only person currently conscious. Weiss didn't have any time to counter-attack the woman since any opportunity she had to attack was absorbed by summoning a glyph to protect her comrades.

The airship had finally made it into her view as it got closer to the battlefield. As it approached, Weiss was noticeably getting better at fighting, the positivity making her more productive while battling. Just as she managed to deal her first attack to Cinder Fall, a stab into her right chest, she heard an explosion ring out behind her.

Weiss turned her head to see the destroyed remains of her airship falling to the ground. It was at this point that she found herself on the ground. She looked beneath herself and saw blood pouring from around the edges of a hole within her chest. " _Wait…I thought…I stabbed her…?_ " Weiss thought as she noticed the metal that was sticking through her body and keeping her pinned to the ground.

The heiress looked up to the horrific sight of her teammates being mauled and eviscerated by the Grimm. She was unable to block the emotions that forced their way out of her body; she was sad and completely enraged. She forced her the metal out of the ground and made herself stand up. She gripped the metal with both hands, pulling it out of her body with her eyes clenched and a scream of agony.

As she opened her eyes, she was inside of an airship which Klein was piloting. "Ah! Good evening my little snowflake. How are you feeling?" Klein asked with delight.

"I had a terrible nightmare, I believe." Weiss responded.

"Coming home after so long can have that kind of effect." Klein stated. "Four years…It's been quite a while." He finished.

"Yes…Beacon was a fascinating place." Weiss said while still in a daze.

"Did you accomplish your goal while being there?" Klein asked.

"I believe I did…though not through the means by which I expected." Weiss stated.

"How do you mean?" Klein asked.

"I met a great group of people; they have…made an impact that I will not soon forget." Weiss said before suddenly remembering the tragic fate of her team, in the forest many months prior. Tears began to slowly slide down her cheeks before she broke into a fit of crying. "If only I were stronger…I could have kept them safe! Damn it!" she yelled as she continued to wail.

"Miss Schnee…" Klein said as he knelt down in front of her. They were now sitting on a balcony in a nice house, but not a familiar one. "…I, personally, believe that something can be learned from every experience, no matter how tragic or glorious." Klein said calmly.

"What was I supposed to learn from my team – my friends – dying?" Weiss asked as tears continued down her face.

"When something bad happens to us, it is often self-induced. By that I mean our own worries and insecurities are what cause this negative experience. Sometimes the experience can be very traumatic or mildly annoying, but they usually have the same solution. Coming to terms and fixing your issues, helps to ease the pain." Klein said apologetically.

"That won't bring them back, though!" Weiss yelled.

"Tell me, Miss Schnee? What is your biggest fear?" Klein asked.

Weiss was appalled, "What? This is no time –"

"Not being good enough." Klein answered for her.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"Your father, your sister, your title, your friends…everything you worry about revolves around not being good enough for one reason or another." Klein elaborated.

"What do you mean?" Weiss wondered in confusion.

"I mean you need to realize that you will never be the same as your father; he is a unique person, just as you are, and no one can ever replace him. You have only two choices: be worse than him, or be better." Klein explained.

"I can't simply tell him that! He believes he is perfect and that I must be on his level before succeeding him." Weiss yelled.

"Much the same can be said of Miss Winter." Klein added as though he ignored Weiss. "Your team – your friends – wouldn't even exist if you weren't good enough. You would have never been put on a team with them and, by extension, would have never become friends." Klein continued.

"That entire team selection process was set up for the sake of randomness!" Weiss argued.

"It was set up for the APPEARANCE of randomness." Klein said with emphasis. "Think of all of the events that have happened thus far and tell me, truthfully, if you think your team selection was random." Klein said confidently.

"But…" Weiss trailed off as she lowered her head and crossed her fingers in her lap.

"What about your title? The entire reason you gave your father for going to Beacon was to 'improve your résumé' if I'm not mistaken." Klein added.

"I get it." Weiss half-whispered.

"Do you, though?" Klein asked.

"Yes!" Weiss yelled as she stood up from her sobbing position to be met with the sight of her father.

"'Yes' what?" Jacques asked.

"Yes, I get it!" Weiss yelled. "I'm not some helpless damsel and I don't need YOU telling me what I do and don't need in my life! I'm strong enough for the Knight-General to accept me as his student; I'm strong enough to be a Hunter; A I know I'm good enough to do your job!" she screamed and yelled her statement at her father as he watched in anger.

"Yeah! Why don't you back off?!" A familiar voice yelled.

Jacques and Weiss both looked to the door to house opening. In a casual pajama fashion, Ruby walks through the door with a playfully grumpy look on her face. Weiss looked back at her father but was met with the shorter sight of Klein. "That is the correct answer!" Klein said happily.

"What're you doing, Weiss?" Ruby asked as she took Weiss' hands.

"I don't really know…" Weiss said as she looked out at the beautiful landscape from the balcony, Klein nowhere to be seen. Ruby quickly placed her forehead to Weiss', planting a long kiss on her lips.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked after the kiss, Weiss' eyes still closed. When she opened them again, she was in the familiar room in which she had been administered Omni-dust.

"Yes. I don't really remember what happened, but I still have the answers." Weiss said in confusion as she looked at Ruby's messy hair. She had slumped down to Ruby's lap while unconscious. Weiss looked at the clock on the wall and was surprised to see that it was 5:32 and 47 seconds in the evening.

"What answers did you get?" Ruby asked.

"I'm good enough." Weiss said without context.

"Good enough for what?" Ruby asked while giggling.

"For anything I put my mind to. I'm good enough to be the head of the Schnee Dust Company; I'm good enough for Team RWBY; I'm good enough for you…" Weiss said, placing her hand on Ruby's cheek for her latter comment.

"I could've told you that!" Ruby said with a sigh. "I can't wait to tell you about mine…but we should wait for those two." She finished with a glance to her sister and Blake. Yang was laying with her feet propped up on the coffee table, her left arm on the armrest, right arm around Blake, and her head leaned back against the top of the couch facing the ceiling. Blake was curled up as much as her body would allow, with her head resting on Yang's lap.

"I wonder how much longer until they come out?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know. But I don't really want to move right now, anyway." Ruby said while placing her hand on Weiss' cheek.

"Me neither. I would take a nap until they get up…but I'm afraid to close my eyes again." Weiss joked.

"I know what you mean! Oh well…" Ruby said as she pulled out her scroll, put her headphone's audio plug into the audio jack, and handed one of them to Weiss who placed it in her ear. "We can just relax a little until then." She finished awhile placing the other earbud into her ear and pressing 'Play' on her music.


	45. Chapter 41: Blake

**Chapter 41**

 **Blake**

* * *

 **Author's Note** : It's been a minute, hasn't it? I am sorry for last week's lack of a chapter and this week's short one. Unfortunately, both my financial life and personal life took a major blow due to some family matters. Things are looking up and, overall, I'm glad things are working out the way they are. I will do my best to have some real chapters up as soon as I can. In the meantime, here's a little something.

Peace and Love~

* * *

"What is your reason for fighting?" A voice asked from a bottomless pit in the center of the space Blake was standing in.

"What kind of question is that?" Blake asked in annoyance. "Is there ever a reason not to fight for equality?" she continued.

"Equality – Equilibrium – is a constant. Like the speed of light…constant. If the faunus were meant to be equal, then they would not be in the predicament that they currently find themselves in." the voice countered.

"Do you have something against us? Why do you defend their side when they are clearly in the wrong?" Blake yelled.

The voice laughed, "It's going to take much more than emotional jargon, girl. People, both Humans and faunus are taught, from a young age, to obey through the fear of punishment. Throughout their lives, most will make a living…by working for another; they will eat…because another killed or harvested their food for them; they will even die…for something as trivial as a flag."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Blake asked.

"The single most powerful tool, for either good or evil, is the status quo. Do you honestly believe that most, individual, humans hate the faunus?" the voice asked.

"Well…no; obviously not. Believing that would only serve to paint me in the light of a victim." Blake argued.

"Are you not?" The voice asked triumphantly.

"No!" Blake yelled.

"Then, I ask again, what is your reason for fighting?" The voice yelled louder, almost to intimidate.

"What is the purpose of this conversation? Who are you?!" Blake asked as loud as she could.

"You see…" the voice continued, ignoring Blake. "…the status quo is a powerful tool. The reason that you endure so much, as you call it, inequality is because of the status quo. The fact remains that people fear persecution, so they will follow what the most popular viewpoint is. It isn't until that a certain, outcast viewpoint becomes more popular that you will see any change." The voice explained.

"So what? Am I supposed to go around telling people the pros and cons of subjugating an entire race of people?" Blake asked sarcastically.

"Yes." The voice stated with no clear explanation.

"Feel free to elaborate." Blake stated.

"I said the status quo is a powerful tool, but that does not just apply to humans. Do you think that each and every faunus under the White Fang's flag is truly happy with killing every human they find?" the voice asked slowly.

Blake remained completely silent as she began to understand the voice's meaning.

"So, I ask again…what is your reason for fighting?" the voice asked.

Blake fell to her knees before slowing sitting back and thinking. She looked at her surroundings and saw only darkness. There was nothing…not in front of her, to her side, above her…nothing. It all felt, somehow, calming. She looked up with confidence in her eyes, "To show people that you don't have to fall into just one of two categories." She stated as a powerful burst of wind began to blow past her causing her to close her eyes.

As Blake opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of an infinite void of fractal patterns and rotating shapes. In the center was the pit to which there was a figure rising, his back to Blake. "Perhaps it is simply our different conclusions that make our happiness impossible." He said.

"Is that you?" Blake asked in a newfound rage as Adam turned to face her.

"I can choose the faunus or I can choose the Humans. I believe that the faunus have been wronged, so I will choose their side. Why is that choice not sound?" Adam asked.

"Because hate will only breed more hate. If we just start a war with the humans, they will retaliate; both sides will lose many; the war will end in either a stalemate or with mediocre appeasement…and the hate that started it all will still be there…" Blake argued.

"So your choice is to create a new side to pick? A new team, as it were?" Adam chuckled.

"Yes." Blake said confidently. "S…since I left the White Fang…I've met people who I honestly thought were hiding their true thoughts because I was a faunus...thanks to you and all of your paranoid propaganda. It wasn't until I actually spent time with them that I realized that how little they care about the fact that I'm not human. They genuinely find that I am a person that they like…they want me to be their friend. In fact, most of the humans that I meet tend to believe the much the same." Blake stated clearly.

"Up until the point you're useless to them, that is." Adam said.

"Hardly. There have been a few times now where my team was under no obligation to help me…but did so anyway. I'll make sure that I'm there when they need me." Blake said.

"It'll all be a lie in the end." Adam said. "You know that I would –"

"Enough!" Blake interrupted. "I won't let your words control me. The friends I've made…mean more to me than you ever will." Blake said assertively as tears began to cloud her vision. Blake blinked and Adam was no longer present. She looked around for him, almost as though she were expecting an attack which never came. Blake fell to the ground and began to sob uncontrollably.

"Blake?" Another voice asked.

Blake opened her eyes and found herself laying in the fetal position, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Damn, you okay?" Yang asked as she brushed some of Blake's hair from her face.

"Yeah…but I owe you guys for helping me to realize the truth." Blake said.

"What 'truth' do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"The truth about the relationship between faunus and Humans…I get it…thank you." Blake mumbled as she sat up. She slowly inched her way closer to Yang before placing her head on Yang's shoulder and resting for a moment.

"So, what did you ladies think?" Lionel asked as he reentered the room.

"That was probably one of the most intense experiences of my life. The few moments of clarity had me battling with my personal issues, but all the hours in between that were spent in complete confusion." Weiss stated.

"Very well put. I personally liked the way an old friend of mine put it: 'You're completely insane for an indescribable amount of time until you finally get somewhere that you can learn. All the insane moments in between just feel like a loading screen' or something along those lines." Lionel chuckled.

"I definitely understand where he's coming from." Yang stated.

"From your perspective, how did we do." Ruby asked.

"This is one of those things that simply being able to talk casually after the experience is a major thing. Some people have come back and were just so preoccupied with the memories that they wouldn't even bother talking to us until the Omni-dust was completely out of their system." Lionel explained.

"Speaking of which…" Blake started.

"There is no guaranteed amount of time it will take for one to be completely sober after the primary effects of Omni-dust have subsided; it's different for everyone. Most people say that they feel fine after a night's rest…if you feel like you can't wait that long, there is something you can take to end the effects quickly…" Lionel explained hesitantly.

"From the way you said that, I'm going to assume that it probably wouldn't be a good idea." Weiss stated.

"Indeed, even more so if you don't really need to take it." Lionel stated as he checked the pulse of each of the ladies in the room. "Best to stay away from any controlled substances for at least a week." He said as he shot Yang a playful glare.

"Ha. I told you someone would smell it." Weiss mocked.

"I know I could…you'd better be fortunate that there weren't many faunus close to our room." Blake said.

"Overall, I would say that was an experience I won't soon forget. Today's been really crazy…and it definitely feels like it's lasted longer than it has." Yang said to change the subject.

"And we'll probably have to do it again…" Ruby said as she rested her head on top of Weiss' head, who had slumped down in her lap.

"The thought of undergoing that experience again has me curious to the point of excitement…but the experience itself is so foreign that I find myself getting scared when I think of doing it again." Weiss explained.

"I know exactly how you feel." Blake said.

"I hope we'll have time to do a few more rounds, at least." Lionel said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"I'll explained everything tomorrow…trust me, you'll want to be well-rested to hear it. Just know that we have a real plan coming together." Lionel said with a smile.


End file.
